Here is what we know about it so far:
- It will most likely be called Threads.
- It is not known what domain it will use for usernames.
- In mockup screenshots, a user replies to someone using an
@mastodon.socialhandle, it’s very likely that they will federate. - It will be side app of Instagram. It’s not clear how much of the new network will be baked into the main app.
- Your username and verification status will carry over, so early adopters won’t have an advantage for their preferred username.
- Your followers will not carry over but there will be an easy way to pick and follow people on your Instagram list.
Personal observations:
- Many people that I talked to about it think that this will be Meta’s attempt at an “EEE”.
- Some Mastodon instance admins that I chatted about it say that Meta will “likely attempt to pull their user data”, and they “will defederate immediately”.
I don’t see this as a bad thing. I hate Facebook with a passion, but if it means more money going into UX development of federated services, I’m all for it. To me that’s the biggest problem with them right now.
The concerns about data use are worth noting, but I don’t think are to be worried about. They can get the data anyway, and what we really need is better data privacy laws in place in general.
AHAHA i can already see whats gonna happen.
- Meta pouring millions of dollar into the development
- Meta releases their new network
- Most instances, especially the big ones, defederate(*)
- Metas app fails due to failing content and engagement.
The only option they have is forcing everyone from insta & co over to Threads.
*) I am not a fan of defederation, but I’d rather defederate Meta than freely give them all the data. Makes it harder for them to crawl^^
Since I already have an Instagram account, I will probably try it out, mainly because I’m curious about how will it work and look. I want to see what their take is, and how they approach certain things. But that’s about it. I won’t be using it past that, because I’m already on Mastodon using Mona and that’s where I’m staying at.
In any case, I guess that I could follow some people over there from my Mastodon account.
Like most of Meta’s recent projects I don’t expect many to care for it, let alone for it to survive. Especially if it gets defed’d immediately (which I am fully expecting). Bluesky has a better shot than this.
I know this is an upopular opinion to have in the Fediverse, but I’ll probably try it out. Twitter, as mush as it pains me to admit, had its uses pre-Musk. And a lot of people have stayed on the platform because they don’t have anywhere else viable to be (because of the size of their audience or how complicated jumping into the Fediverse can be, for example). So a mainstream alternative to Twitter that’s not run by the dumbest boy in school is very much a market Meta can take advantage of. And while I doubt they have good intentions behind including ActivityPub, I’m in “wait and see” mode for now.
Bear in mind that there are already large ActivityPub platforms that are run by bad actors. Most of the users of those platforms don’t even know they’re on the Fediverse.
The one that comes to mind is Trump’s Truth Social. Internally, it’s built on Mastodon. It can technically federate with anywhere else.
Most places defederate with Truth Social because they don’t want to be associated with it - but it’s still Fediverse and still technically can interop with everyone else.
It will most likely be called Threads
Meta going for the nuclear option
Probably so. They have to do something now that the “Metaverse” is dead.
