Why Meta's head of Threads thinks it's great if users move to DMs and 'lurk' in the feed

Meta is rolling out direct messages and group chats for Threads on the web, aiming to boost engagement among power users who access the app from computers. Threads already sees roughly 350 million DMs per week and weekly per-user messaging growth of about 30% year-to-date; the app surpassed 400 million monthly active users last year. Meta views messaging as a strategic growth and monetization channel (WhatsApp’s paid business messaging drove $885 million in non-ad revenue last quarter) and plans product hires to accelerate U.S. adoption. The feature could increase daily opens, time spent, and content-sharing behavior — all positive for Meta’s user metrics and long-term monetization — while helping Threads compete with X and other rivals.