Threads Expands Fediverse Interactions with New Follow Feature

Meta’s Threads has taken another step in its integration with the decentralized social media ecosystem by enabling users to follow individuals from fediverse servers directly within the app. This move strengthens Threads’ connection to the broader ActivityPub network, which includes platforms like Mastodon and WordPress – meaning that users can easily follow each other cross-platform without requiring any kind of complex lists of links or intrusive one-to-one DM conversations.

Threads Chief Adam Mosseri highlighted the new feature, explaining that users can now follow fediverse profiles that have engaged with their Threads posts. By tapping on a notification indicating a reply from a fediverse user, Threads users can navigate to that person’s profile and opt to follow them. Additionally, users can set up notifications for future posts from the fediverse account.

This development represents a significant milestone in getting the fediverse concept in the hands of more users. While many users are going to only engage with the system on a very basic level, having a way to directly follow other users like any other platform makes it much more digestible to newcomers. Naturally, this feature may still need heavy tweaking and adjustments over time, especially as the scope of Meta’s fediverse continues to grow.

While Meta’s decentralized ambitions remain experimental, the company appears committed to maintaining a foothold in this space as it evolves. Although some users are open about their dislike of Meta having such a strong hold on so many social platforms – now all being networked into one big collective – there is still plenty of interest in where the concept will go in the near future.