Forging the “Federal Universe”! What Are the Ambitions of Threads?
Have you Threads today?
Threads, the social platform newly launched by Meta, the parent company of Instagram, made its debut in July 2023 and attracted tens of millions of users within just seven hours.
As Threads celebrates its one-year anniversary, the monthly active users have surpassed 175 million.
However, in Meta’s vision, Threads is not just a platform for sharing mundane or political posts as we currently see. Threads utilizes a communication protocol called “ActivityPub” that allows users to interact across platforms, creating what is known as the “Fediverse.”
Currently, users aged 18 and above with public accounts can access the beta version of the Fediverse feature on Threads, enabling them to share their content to preferred servers for cross-platform publishing.
What makes cross-server and cross-platform interactions special? Let’s first understand the significance of “ActivityPub.”
The ActivityPub protocol enables users to traverse data
“ActivityPub” is a protocol standard established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Its primary function is to facilitate communication between different servers and allow users to carry their data across various servers, including the people they follow or their fan lists.
Through the ActivityPub communication protocol, users have control over their data, content, and audience, making it portable across any platform they visit. This means that when users switch to a new social platform that supports ActivityPub, they do not have to refollow their friends or celebrities. Such data portability sets it apart from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
This “open social network” also signifies that social applications built on this protocol are interoperable. Apart from data such as the follow and fan lists, when users post content, they can view or share it on any platform supporting ActivityPub, creating a connected Federal Universe.
The Federal Universe: Independent but Interconnected Servers
The Fediverse, a network universe composed of servers conversing with one another, where each server operates independently but can communicate with other servers in the Fediverse using the same communication protocol. This interaction involves sharing posts, messages, user information, and more.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, mentioned in an interview with a foreign media outlet that the advantage of data interoperability within the Fediverse is that even if someone decides to leave the Threads platform, they can still carry their fans and content with them.
Another area where social media practices can improve is in removing barriers to content consumption. For instance, to view posts or photos on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you may need to set up a new account. However, through the interoperability of the Fediverse, you can read and share your favorite content on any compatible system