Creating the “Federated Universe”! What’s the ambition behind Threads?
Have you threaded today?
Threads, the social platform launched by Meta, the parent company of Instagram, made its debut in July 2023 and within just seven hours, it attracted tens of millions of users. As Threads marks its one-year anniversary, the monthly active user count has crossed 175 million.
However, in Meta’s vision, Threads is not just another platform for posting or browsing through mundane or political content. Threads utilizes a communication protocol named “ActivityPub” and allows users to engage in cross-platform interactions, forming what is known as the “Federated Universe” (Fediverse).
Currently, users aged 18 and above with public accounts can access the beta features of the Federated Universe, enabling them to share their content on preferred servers and publish posts across platforms seamlessly.
But what sets cross-server and cross-platform interactions apart? Let’s first grasp the significance of “ActivityPub.”
The ActivityPub protocol lets users navigate with their data. Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), this protocol standard facilitates communication between different servers, enabling users to traverse across platforms with their data, including their follower or fan lists. Through ActivityPub, users can maintain control over their data, content, and audience, ensuring portability across any platform. This data portability distinguishes it from conventional social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.
This openness in the social network landscape illustrates that social applications built on this protocol are interoperable. Aside from tracking followers and fan lists, users can post content and view or share it across any platform supporting ActivityPub, creating an interconnected Federated Universe.
The Federated Universe, or Fediverse, is essentially a social network cosmos composed of independent servers that can communicate with each other using the same communication protocol. Each server operates autonomously but can interact with other servers in the Federated Universe, sharing posts, messages, user information, and more.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, mentioned in an interview with external media that the benefit of data interoperability within the Federated Universe allows individuals to carry their fan base and content even if they decide to leave the Threads platform.
One aspect that can enhance the current state of social media is liberating content consumption from platform restrictions. With interoperability in the Federated Universe, users can access and share their favorite content across any compatible systems, avoiding the need to create new accounts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Users who downloaded the Threads app last year and linked their accounts can already see the mention of “threads.net” next to their usernames on their profile page. Clicking on it reveals a message hinting at upcoming interoperability features on other Federated