Latest news with #fediverse
Malay Mail
12 hours ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Threads embraces ‘fediverse' as Meta adds new search and cross-platform post visibility
SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 — Meta yesterday gave posts from apps or servers synched to the 'fediverse' a dedicated feed at Threads, its challenge to the X platform originally known as Twitter. The fediverse allows users to stay in one platform to look at cross-platform content — which means Meta gets to keep users on their product to view content posted to Mastodon or other participating platforms, and vice versa. Meta also added the ability to search for profiles at platforms in the fedivserse from within the Threads app. 'Our new search feature and dedicated fediverse feed help you discover more perspectives from people outside of Threads,' Meta said in a blog post. 'You don't have to miss out on anyone's posts just because they happen to post on different platforms.' Threads embraced the fediverse about a year ago, allowing users to see posts from accounts they follow at other connected platforms, such as Mastadon, Bookwyrn, WriteFreely and others. 'This allows you to see a broader range of views, no matter where they're posted,' Meta said, adding 'and we hope others will join as time goes on.' Threads was among the social networks that took interest in being more open as Twitter users sought alternatives after billionaire Elon Musk bought that platform in late 2022. Meta described the fediverse as an open global network of interconnected, yet independent, social media servers, each with its own users, content and rules. Meta compared it to the way people using different email services are able to message one another because platforms conform to common protocols behind the scenes. Unlike email, though, shared posts are public. 'The new fediverse feed and the ability to search for fediverse users in Threads are one more step in our journey to make this social platform fully interoperable,' Meta said. 'We'll continue to collaborate with developers and policymakers to make progress in this space.' — AFP
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Threads Adds Expanded Fediverse Engagement Options
This story was originally published on Social Media Today. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Social Media Today newsletter. Yeah, I'm still convinced that Meta's ever going to go all-in on fediverse sharing, and its support of decentralized social media via a network of independent servers. But it is pushing forward with its fediverse experiments in Threads, with the platform today getting a couple of new features for fediverse-connected users. To recap, at launch, Meta made a commitment to ensuring that Threads would be interoperable with fediverse servers, meaning that, in theory, you would one day be able to follow users from other decentralized social apps, like Mastodon, within Threads. You'd be able to engage, interact, all via different servers, and over the past year, Threads has added various fediverse sharing options to facilitate external interconnection. To be clear, Threads is not fully open to other platforms as yet, but you can share your updates to other fediverse servers, and have people follow you from other platforms. And today Threads is expanding this, with fediverse-connected users now able to also see posts from federated users in the app. As you can see in this example, you'll now be able to view posts within Threads that were shared to other fediverse servers. Those posts will include their handles on other apps. You'll also be able to search for fediverse-connected users via Threads: Though not all federated servers will be available. For one, they have to be using the same protocol as Threads. Federated servers can only communicate with each other if, essentially, they speak the same language, and Threads is able to translate ActivityPub protocols, which is the same system that powers Mastodon, Bookwyrm, WriteFreely and others. Mastodon is clearly the biggest of these, though with only around 1.4 million active users at present, there's not a heap of expanded opportunity there. The largest decentralized social app is Bluesky, but that's built on AT Protocol, so, at this stage at least, it can't communicate with Threads. That may change in future, but right now, even this expanded decentralized linkage is fairly limited. Is it that big of a deal either way? Do users really care about fediverse connection? Well, it depends on who you ask. Last week, TechCrunch's Sara Perez wrote an overview of the expanded potential of Bluesky, and decentralized social media more broadly, in which she noted that the real benefit of decentralized social platforms is that provide more options, and personal control over your in-app experience: 'If you don't like the tone of the topics trending on Bluesky, you can switch to other apps, change your default feeds, or even build your own social platform using the technology.' This is the main benefit of decentralized social platforms, that you'll no longer be beholden to the big corporates that control social media engagement, and definitely, there's a case to be made on this front, considering how much control they enable billionaires to have over the broader information ecosystem. But the biggest challenge for fediverse adoption is that the vast majority of regular users just don't care. And this is not unique to decentralized social experiments. Back in 2016, for example, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when Meta was being scrutinized over the way it accesses and handles user data, and all the headline reports were that people should quit Facebook, that they should update their privacy settings, that they should stop submitting their info to Zuck and Co. altogether. The general feel, based on media coverage, was that there was a resulting Facebook backlash, but according to Meta itself, it saw no meaningful decline in usage, nor an uptick in people updating their privacy settings. Because that's not interesting, it's annoying, people don't like having to go into their settings and update their details, even when prompted, based on potential issues with their account. This happens time and time again. A platform will launch a new dashboard to enable more control options, but no one will use it. Facebook will let you opt out of certain ads, but nobody does. TikTok will let you hold your data out of its ad targeting system, yet the vast majority of people still allow it. Even though these users will still report having concerns about such, even though they'll engage with reports about privacy issues, even though we see regular reports of mass data breaches. People don't care, because convenience trumps complexity, for most social media users. Which is why decentralized social won't catch on, because the vast majority of people don't want to have to select a server to connect to, or define rules for the algorithm, or figure out how to communicate across fediverse instances. It's all too much extra work, especially when you can create a profile on TikTok and let the algorithm show you stuff you'll like, based on minimal input. Social platform algorithms are now better than ever at highlighting content that's relevant to each users' interest, without them even having to like or engage with anything themselves, and while they continue to refine personalization to the laziest degree for users, fediverse connection is going the other way, and seeking more and more specific input. Which, as people who are knowledgeable about such elements rightly point out, is a better way to go, but most people don't fit into that category. And without critical mass, fediverse servers become more like elitist group chats, which appeal to fewer and fewer users as they become more refined. Which, again, is why I don't think Meta's really taking this seriously, and is more hedging its bets with fediverse functionality. Sure, it looks good for Threads to link into other servers, leaning into the fediverse shift. But at this rate, it can hardly be called a 'shift' at all, it's more an alternative, a back-alley social gathering for nerdy conversations. Which is likely good for those engaged in them, but less so for the general population. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
a day ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Threads expands open social web integrations with fediverse feed, user profile search
Instagram Threads, Meta's competitor to X, on Tuesday launched two new features as part of its plan to further integrate with the open social web, known as the fediverse. Now, Threads users will be able to see posts from other users on the fediverse within a dedicated feed if they've opted in to fediverse sharing on Threads. Plus, people will be able to search for fediverse users directly in Threads. Posts from federated users will be found on the Following tab of the Threads app. They don't appear in line with the other posts from Threads users, however. Instead, you'll tap on a link at the top of the feed to view these posts in a separate feed. Threads can pull in posts made on federated apps like Mastodon, Bookwyrm, WriteFreely, and others, with more services to be supported over time. In addition, Threads users will be able to search and discover fediverse profiles in the Threads app, including those for WordPress bloggers who have activated fediverse sharing, Flipboard users, and those on Mastodon, among others. The features are designed to make Threads feel more like a federated app, meaning one that's connected to the wider network of interconnected social media servers that make up the decentralized open social web. Though Threads has not completed this integration, with over 350 million monthly active users, it's the largest app running on the ActivityPub protocol, which powers the X rival Mastodon and other federated apps. First launched in July 2023, Threads to date has taken inspiration from traditional social networks like X, as well as those operating on open source protocols, like Mastodon and Bluesky. Like Bluesky, Threads introduced the concept of custom feeds as well as its version of Starter Packs, to help users find people to follow. And like Mastodon, Threads is more directly tied into the fediverse, allowing people to connect with others who are not directly on Threads. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Since its debut, Threads has introduced features that allow its users to opt in to share their posts on the fediverse, see replies on their posts from those on Mastodon, follow users' profiles on other fediverse servers, and see who follows them in return. In June, Threads expanded fediverse sharing functionality to the E.U. after prior launches in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Meta says that Threads has interacted with over 75% of all fediverse servers since launching the fediverse sharing feature a year ago. However, the company has not yet provided an update on when it would be fully integrated with the fediverse, nor when it would introduce account portability. That would allow Threads users to move their account somewhere else if they ever decided Meta's policies weren't to their liking. It's a key aspect for open, decentralized apps, as it puts control in the hands of users instead of the platforms.
The Verge
a day ago
- The Verge
Threads is adding fediverse content to your social feeds
The Threads team at Meta has spent the past year working on supporting the broader fediverse and social web, and is launching its biggest integrations yet: a new dedicated feed for fediverse posts, and a way to search for fediverse users inside of Threads. Starting today, if you've turned on fediverse sharing in Threads, there will be a new section at the top of your Following feed that takes you to a list of posts from folks you follow on Mastodon, Flipboard, or wherever else you've connected your Threads account. It's very much a separate feed, which Meta software engineer Peter Cottle tells me is deliberate. 'For everything from integrity to user impersonation, just for user understanding, it's nice to have it as kind of a separate thing.' The fediverse feed isn't algorithmically ranked, or subject to any of Threads' rules or moderation; it's just a reverse-chronological feed of stuff you follow. Over time, Cottle says, Meta could mix the posts more, but he's not sure that's the right idea. 'There's actually kind of a different use case for fediverse consumption,' he says, that's more like old-school RSS readers. 'I might want to subscribe to Ghost publications, or subscribe to different authors, so I have this dedicated place to catch up on my across-the-web content, separately from a Following feed or a For You feed.' Even internally at Meta, he says, there's some debate about whether Threads wants to be a fully open social network or should just act as a repository for all that external content. When you set up fediverse sharing, Threads automatically connects to whatever accounts you've followed, but you can also now search for users on Mastodon and elsewhere from the Threads search bar. If you follow them, you'll start to see their posts in Threads too. This kind of easy discovery has long been one of the biggest challenges for Mastodon in particular, since people are distributed across so many separate servers, but Cottle says Threads can do something like universal fediverse search. This is certainly the most visible fediverse content has ever been inside of Threads, but the world of ActivityPub is still not a first-class citizen inside of Threads. You still have to opt-in to sharing your posts, you still have to have a separate account to connect to, and you'll still have to go to the dedicated feed to see what's new. (If you post something and get fediverse replies, those are still separate too.) Cottle argues that this separation is a useful way to understand different perspectives. But it seems clear there's just still a lot of work to be done both on bringing content into the platform and on showing it to users in a way that makes sense. In general, Cottle says, there's still a lot of work to be done educating people on how the fediverse works, and even what it is in the first place. That's why Meta has been a bit slower in rolling out fediverse features, even as the Threads team has more aggressively shipped things like DMs, spoiler alerts, and links in bio. But Cottle says the team is still committed to bringing Threads and the fediverse together — whatever that ends up looking like.
