• by Colin Kirkland , June 25, 2024

Three months after rolling out the beta to users in the U.S., Canada and Japan, Meta has invited Threads users in over 100 countries to turn on sharing to the fediverse – a hub of federated social networks that coexist on a shared protocol – marking a new decentralized path forward for mainstream social media.

With over 150 million monthly active users, Threads, Meta's social messaging app and X rival, now represents the largest network on the ActivityPub protocol, which hosts microblogging app Mastodon, video streaming app PeerTube, social network Pixelfed and more.

By toggling on fediverse sharing, Threads users who are over 18 years old with public accounts can share content across these other federated platforms.

Meta is now allowing Threads users who post across the fediverse to like and view replies from users on other linked platforms, giving people the option to attract more attention for their content. Not yet available, however, is the ability to respond to replies from users on federated apps.

Meta says it is using this expanded beta version of fediverse sharing to specifically connect Threads posts to Mastodon, while likes and replies from Mastodon and the fediverse will be available on Threads as well.

But due to potential user confusion over how to navigate the fediverse, Meta has decided that for now it will only federate top-level Threads posts and self-replies to Mastodon. Polls and posts with reply controls will be launching later.

A majority of comments on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Threads posts about fediverse sharing contain unflinching confusion around the term “fediverse.” Which is why the tech giant is using the beta roll out to educate the public on the decentralized social media strategy through an in-app explainer describing terminology and interconnected sharing abilities.

“We have to both explain the fediverse and explain all the disclaimers and then make sure they feel good about the outcome,” said Instagram engineer Peter Cottle upon previewing the original rollout in March.

Our goal remains to grow the fediverse responsibly, prioritizing the success of a safe, diverse, content-rich, and interoperable community,” Meta told TechCrunch. “This is just the next step in our journey to make Threads interoperable with ActivityPub, and we will continue to collaborate with developers and policymakers to make progress so creators and users across services can experience the benefits the fediverse offers, including expanded content reach, further fostering their community, portability, and more.”