Meta is rolling out new Threads features for brands and creators in its continued push to take market and audience share from X. Although the Threads social networking platform still does not accept advertising, it is clearly working to create a brand friendly environment as it prepares to launch paid media. The platform has added insight tools that measure content performance across age, gender and geography. Also new is the ability to reorder columns and to save up to 100 drafts per account. Scheduled posts are “coming soon.” The new features are available for web users and are being explored for mobile.

Meta explains it will launch advertising on Threads — which it says passed 200 million worldwide MAUs a year after its July 5, 2023, launch — when the platform achieves “critical mass.”

“Reporting suggests that Meta plans to introduce ads on Threads sometime next year, which explains the influx of brand-friendly tools like analytics and scheduling,” writes The Verge, adding “the hope is that when companies and celebrities finally have had enough of X, they’ll flock to Threads instead.”

“Meta is aiming to lure more users with better tools,” reports Bloomberg. These new features “could attract creators and businesses, which depend on data detailing the demographics and engagement of their audiences.”

“We’re introducing insights to help you better understand your followers,” Meta says of the new Threads features in a blog post.

While Threads’ user base is still considerably less than the 600 million global MAUs that X owner Elon Musk reported in May, independent analysis indicates the dynamic may be different.

As of Q2, data analysis by Apptopia suggested that in the U.S. Threads had 28 million daily active users in the U.S. versus 22 million for X, according to The Week. That puts X’s DAU count 21 percent lower than that of Threads, per Social Media Today (which points out that X claims 250 million DAUs globally).