Threads Launches 24-Hour “Ghost Posts” Feature

Meta’s text-based social platform, Threads, is rolling out a new feature called “ghost posts”, giving its 400 million monthly users a way to share temporary thoughts that vanish after 24 hours. The global rollout, announced Monday, marks Meta’s latest move to differentiate Threads from Elon Musk’s X while continuing its rapid pace of updates since launch.

Users can create a ghost post from the Threads mobile app by toggling a small ghost icon in the compose window. Once published, these posts appear with a dotted speech bubble to distinguish them from regular updates. Replies to ghost posts work differently from standard posts – instead of appearing publicly in the feed, they go directly to the creator’s direct messages, creating a semi-private layer of interaction.

While anyone can see if a ghost post has received likes or replies, only the original poster can view the exact engagement metrics. After 24 hours, the post disappears from the timeline but remains available to its creator through an archived section in the app’s settings.

A Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch the goal is to “encourage more low-stakes sharing” and foster casual, ephemeral interactions – an idea that has proved successful for Instagram and Facebook’s Stories. Unlike X, where users often rely on third-party tools to remove older content, Threads is integrating short-lived posts natively into its platform.

This isn’t the first time a text-focused social network has experimented with vanishing posts. Twitter introduced “Fleets” in 2020, a similar feature meant to promote spontaneous sharing, but discontinued it a year later after weak user engagement. Meta, however, appears confident that Threads’ conversational tone and built-in audience can make disappearing posts work where Twitter’s version didn’t.