Threads is not only an alternative to Elon Musk’s social network As a reminder, the fediverse is a set of platforms and social networks that are interconnected and interoperable, thanks to a protocol called ActivityPub. Among the best-known platforms in the world, there is the social network Mastodon, but also the Flipboard platform. As for WordPress, it also offers a plug-in that allows blogs to connect to this social media network.
First, Threads launched an option that allows users to make their posts visible on the feed. As a result, it became possible to have responses from people using another service, on another server, on the platform. But now, the integration of Threads into this network goes further. In a recent publication, Adam Mosseri, the boss of Instagram, announces the possibility of following people who use other servers in the fediverse.
“Starting today, you can follow people from other servers in the federative who have interacted with federated users or posts on Threads. You can view their posts by navigating to their profile, and you can also choose to be notified when they post to their server. More interoperability features are in the works, stay tuned”we read in the publication. This new feature is very interesting, since news feeds will no longer be limited to publications from Threads users, but can also include publications from other servers. And this should make it possible to have more diverse content to consult on the platform.
Not yet available in Europe
The only downside is that, for the moment, Threads’ interoperability features are not yet available in Europe. Indeed, according to an Instagram help page, sharing publications with the fediver is not offered to users in the “European region”. But in any case, for the rest of the world, this is a novelty that makes Threads even more interesting.
Recently, the social network experienced a sharp increase in its number of users, after the election of Donald Trump. This exceeded 275 million monthly active users at the beginning of November. And during the month of November, it added 35 million new users.
- Threads was designed to be more open, integrating the ActivityPub protocol to be interoperable with other fediver platforms (like Mastdon or Flipboard)
- And recently, Threads announced a new feature that allows tracking users from other platforms, on other servers
- But at the moment, Threads interoperability features are not available in the EU
