Launched just a few months ago in July, Threads underwent a massive surge in signups with Twitter, or rather, X users searching for a fresh place to air their views.
Features were sparse when Threads first launched but over the months new features such keyword search and a desktop portal before finally being made available in Europe today now that data-handling processes have been agreed-upon.
On top of this, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also announced that Threads is working on compatibility with the ActivityPub protocol that will being interoperability with the Mastodon app.
Threads Finally launches in the EU
Five months after launching in the rest of the world, Threads is finally available to those residing in the European Union, with the desktop portable going live for most countries in the region and access slowly rolling out.
The main reason for the delay was the EU's stringent Digital Markets Act (DMA) that comes into effect during 2024, with Meta wanting to make sure it was in accordance with the new rules on data sharing.
ActivityPub integration is in the testing phase
In other news, Zuckerberg posted a Thread on his account stating that the development teams were now testing the ability to make posts available on services such as Mastodon which run on the decentralised ActivityPub protocol.
This means that other apps using the ActivityPub protocol will also gain access to Threads, giving users more ways of interacting with both the people they follow and those that follow them. All in a much more user-friendly method than setting up a Mastodon server, which is something that were a little too techy for some people.
As for what integration with ActivityPub might mean for the end user, it's likely that it will be a case of being able to view Threads posts from within the Mastodon app. It's unlikely that one will be able to switch ones account from Threads to Mastodon or vice versa. Still, it should be a method to view Threads for those who don't want to give Meta access to their personal data.
What to expect
Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri has revealed that he and other members of the Threads team will be available on other fediverse platforms (such as Mastodon) this week, and that the eventual aim is to achieve the “ability to follow accounts from ActivityPub servers on Threads as well.”
Meta's CEO gave no timeframe for when the testing of ActivityPub integration might be completed, but those that were skeptical on whether Threads would follow through on its promise have reason to take pause for a time.
In the meantime, what new features would you like the Threads team to add to the social media network? Perhaps the ability to switch profiles without logging out or how about adding some sort of compatibility with WhatsApp? Let us know in the comments below.
