Threads is deepening its ties to the Fediverse, also known as the open social web, which powers services like X alternative Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube and Flipboard, as well as other apps. On Wednesday, Meta announced that Threads users will be able to see Fediverse replies to other posts, in addition to their own. Additionally, posts made via the Threads API, including those made via third-party apps and scheduling services, will be syndicated to the Fediverse.
The latter was previously announced via an in-app message informing users that their API posts would be shared to the Fediverse starting August 28th.
Since Meta released the Threads API in June, companies like Hootsuite, Sprinklr, Sprout Social, and Grabyo have integrated access to Threads into their platforms and services, making Threads even more useful for brands, businesses, and other social media marketers, as well as expanding the reach of high-profile accounts run by their social media teams, like the @potus account, for example.
In contrast, Elon Musk's X has spent the past year restricting access to its APIs by shutting down its free tier and raising prices in an effort to boost revenue for the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Another big change coming to Threads today is around how fediverse replies are displayed.
Since June, users have been able to see Fediverse replies to their posts by enabling Fediverse sharing in the app's settings. Enabling the sharing option allows users to syndicate their posts to the broader social web and see how users on other services have responded. Going forward, users will also be able to see Fediverse replies to other people's posts. This will immediately bring more content to Threads, even without a significant increase in Threads users.
Meta engineers suggested testing the feature by browsing replies from major accounts, such as YouTuber Marques Brownlee (@mkbhd).
Here, above the replies posted on the thread itself, you'll see a new section that shows the number of “fediverse replies” available.
Note that you'll need to tap or click on the “fediverse replies” section to actually see who's saying what in other servers. Currently, Threads users can “like” replies from other servers but can't reply to them as the feature is still in beta and under development.
In the short term, separating fediverse replies into their own section makes sense while users learn what it means to participate in the broader social web. But because it requires an extra click to view them, they get buried in the Threads user interface, and so they seem less important than native Threads replies. Of course, the Threads user interface is subject to change as the product evolves.
Threads is the largest app to adopt ActivityPub, the protocol that underpins the Fediverse, and some worry that Meta could take over the decentralized, open-source social network made up of interconnected servers. Though Threads has not yet been fully integrated, some Mastodon server operators have already preemptively blocked Threads, preventing its users from interacting with the Meta-run social network and vice versa.