What integration options are there between Threads, Meta's social network, and Drupal? From share buttons to adding the Threads feed to your site, there are many possibilities, although as of today, they're not quite fully developed. Here's an overview.
Threads is a social network that allows users to post short messages, share links, photos, and videos shorter than 5 minutes, and engage in discussions.
The app belongs to the Meta group, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Since Twitter was acquired by Elon Musk, X's competitors have tried to take advantage of the user exodus caused by criticism of its governance (protection of minors, fake news, etc.).
The app is connected to Instagram, which allows users to share their content with their Instagram friends.
The service was launched worldwide at the beginning of 2023, but was not available in Europe (GDPR) until last December. No one can say for sure whether Threads will really catch on, but it should be noted that the platform had a rather good start.
Three ways to integrate Threads with Drupal
- Mention and link to the site administrator's Threads page;
- Threads share buttons;
- Display of the Threads feed.
Mention of the Threads page
The official icon is available in most icon and logo banks. So, including a link to a Threads page is not a problem.
The share button
Threads.net does not provide a Sharing Endpoint like Facebook, X, etc.—that is, an entry or exit point in a software architecture.
As of now, it’s not possible to offer a share button to post a page to your Threads account. But good news, it’s in the works! We’re eagerly awaiting its implementation.
The leading specialists in share buttons (Add2Any, ShareThis, etc.) are already working on it. They offer a share button in their solutions, but it’s not active yet. Be aware, not all these solutions are GDPR compliant!
Displaying the feed on the homepage
At this time, there is still no API that allows you to retrieve a user’s feed to display it on a website. So, there is not yet a contributed module for Drupal. However, we know that an API is in development for third-party developers, notably to allow direct publishing to Threads from their own applications. But there’s no guarantee that a feed feature will be included in the API.
That said, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, who also oversees Threads, is concerned about how this API might be used. In fact, Meta wants to avoid falling into the same pitfalls and abuses as X, so they want to give more space to creator rather than publisher content. The goal: to make Threads a space for more positive, light-hearted, and entertaining exchanges, less focused on divisive news.
A very interesting example of using this API concerns transportation companies, which could automatically post alerts for every train, metro, or bus delay... In fact, our client Lignes d’Azur, the transport network for the Nice Metropolitan area, was the first to ask us about this topic.
Displaying the feed on your site: a bad good idea?
We tend to discourage this type of request because:
- If the user is on Threads, it's better that they subscribe directly to the client’s page. We won’t be able to offer a better user experience…
- We become dependent on a sometimes unpredictable third-party service (see Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn…) that can change its terms of use or pricing overnight. So this should only be proposed conditionally and without any long-term guarantees.
- Perhaps the company (or its communications department) sees displaying news via the Threads feed as a way to move faster than its IT department, which blocks or slows the flow of information. But in this case, it’s up to us as a web agency to analyze the problem and suggest something more suitable.
Are you interested in integrating Threads into your Drupal site?
Contact us to discuss your project!