• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 18, 2017

Trying to maintain its position as a go-to messaging app media and business types, Slack is rolling out threaded replies. With the new feature, the “productivity” app can more directly take on Facebook and similarly robust messaging services.  

Standing apart from the pack, however, Slack will sideline threads in a sidebar.

Messages with threaded replies will show thumbnails of discussion participants directly in the channel, as well as the number of replies posted.

Users can simply click through to view the threaded conversation in the right sidebar. Other users can chime in, add reactions, or select to follow along. Unlike a regular message posted in channel, replies to a thread won’t automatically mark the channel as unread or notify users -- unless they’re directly mentioned.

Rather, the “All Threads” view in a users’ sidebar will be highlighted, so they know there are new messages in one of their threads.

“This way, you and a subset of your team can riff on ideas, triage problems or clarify feedback in a focused space,” the company notes in a new blog post.

“Although they’re tucked away, threaded conversations are archived and searchable, so anyone can access the information and context they need without joining every discussion,” it adds.

Last year, Slack established itself as a company to watch in the white-hot mobile messaging space.

Standing apart from rival messaging services -- namely Facebook -- Slack has convinced subscribers to fork over monthly fees for premium features.

Like other mobile platforms, Slack has also aggressively courted the developer community. In late 2015, for example, it started an $80 million venture fund to support the creation of apps and add-ons that complement its business-focused group-messaging service.

The fund has since invested in Awesome -- a tool that organizes Slack activity -- along with a productivity software maker and a toolkit for building chat bots.