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★ Best answer
Threads defaults to showing you a mix of content from people you follow and recommendations from people you don't, kind of like how Instagram's main feed works. If you're seeing mostly strangers, you probably need to switch to the "Following" feed view, which filters things down to just the accounts you actually follow. Look for the feed toggle at the top of your screen - there should be an option to switch between "For you" (the algorithm mix) and "Following" (your actual follows only).
The "For you" tab is designed to help you discover new accounts, but honestly it can feel pretty overwhelming when you just want to see what people you care about are posting. If random recommendations are annoying you, stick with the Following feed. You can always flip back to For you when you're in the mood to explore, but most people I know who felt frustrated with their Threads feed just switched their default and felt way better about it.
The algorithm's pushing recommendations at you harder than most people realize. What you're describing sounds like either the feed defaulting to "For You" mode instead of "Following" (check the top of your feed - there should be a toggle), or Threads is just heavily weighting suggested accounts even in your Following tab. I'd double-check that toggle first since a lot of folks miss it and assume the whole feed is broken. If you're already on Following and still seeing mostly unknowns, it might be worth clearing the app cache or reinstalling, though honestly Meta's algorithm does seem aggressive about mixing in recommendations whether you want them or not.
Threads has a "Following" tab at the top of your feed that shows only people you actually follow, separate from the main "For You" feed! The sneaky part that everyone misses is that the app sometimes resets your tab preference or defaults new sessions back to "For You" even if you were just using "Following" moments before, so you might not realize you've switched tabs. Just tap the "Following" option at the very top and see if that fixes it - if it keeps flipping back, try clearing your app cache or reinstalling Threads since a glitchy version can cause this constantly.
If you're not seeing a "Following" toggle at the top of your feed, try closing the app completely and reopening it - Threads sometimes gets stuck showing the "For You" tab as default. Also worth checking if notifications are enabled for accounts you follow, since the app prioritizes showing you people who've been active recently over your whole follow list.
Make sure you're actually tapping the "Following" tab instead of staying on "For You" - this is the single thing that fixes it for most people. The earlier answers nailed that there are two separate feeds, but what they didn't emphasize enough is that Threads defaults to shoving you into "For You" mode every single time you open the app, even if you were just looking at your Following feed. It's kinda annoying tbh 😅
Beyond that, if you *are* on the Following tab and still seeing randoms mixed in, try force-closing the app entirely (swipe it away on your phone, not just backing out) and restarting it. Sometimes it glitches and the feed gets confused about which tab you actually selected. Also double-check that you're actually following the people you think you are - sounds silly but unfollows can happen by accident, or maybe your follow list is smaller than expected. If none of that works, try logging out and back in, though that's usually overkill 🍄
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