How would Threads federate with Lemmy in the first place since they’re a microblogging thing and we’re not?

Ragnell, 11 months ago

I can follow Lemmy accounts from Mastodon, and post to their threads with reply. I did this with !startrek until it got too active.

And Kbin is so fully integrated with Mastodon the microblog section picks up Mastodon tags. I follow my kbin account from Mastodon so I can boost my kbin boosts.

Threads is an everyone problem.

Coolishguy, 11 months ago

Federation would also mean that you could use your account from threads to comment or post on Lemmy. So a Threads user links to a Lemmy post, the post could blow up with users who aren’t familiar with the culture here. I think a lot of people aren’t saying it, but they’re worried about their cool, new favorite platform getting swamped with “normies.”

agitatedpotato, 11 months ago

I don’t care about normies as much as I care about their racist uncles blowing up in the comments with lies and thinky veiled conspircies about non white people.

derf82, 11 months ago

Do we even know is Threads will federate at all? I figure meta is using activitypub simply because it’s cheaper and easier than coding their own, not because they intend to federate. Zuck wants private data so he can sell us ads and propaganda. Allowing people to follow from federated servers both denies him user data and the ability to push ads.

4z01235, 11 months ago

1. Why bother implementing a federated protocol if the intent is not to federate?
2. Don’t you think Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp has the experience to build a social media network without implementing ActivityPub? If federation is not a goal, why constrain yourself to building something that fits into that network?

jiml78, 11 months ago

Why did google implement XMPP originally for Google Chat? They originally did federate with XMPP servers. But eventually, they decided that federating wasn’t worth it. At the time they still used XMPP, they just refused to federate.

Why wouldn’t you use ActivityPub as a protocol if it has been proven out and does 90% of what you need? Just because they use ActivityPub, I don’t see them ever Federating in any meaningful way. Essentially, I think the protocol is well designed and Meta is just using it as their starting point with no reason to share any data with the fediverse.

4z01235, 11 months ago

Was that meant to rebut the idea that Meta wants to federate with other ActivityPub services? The fact that Google did the same thing with XMPP, gained user share, then defederated once they achieved critical mass - classic EEE?

derf82, 11 months ago

It is a ready-made software that could let them quickly launch a product, and it can deflect the allegations already made of intellectual property theft from Meta hiring former Twitter developers. Of course they could develop their own, but that would take time and added risk.

What benefit would Meta get from federating with the likes of Mastadon? They want profit, and I do not see a way Meta makes money from letting people follow Threads users from Mastodon, KBin, and Lemmy.

PupBiru, 11 months ago

activitypub is less ready made software and more a set of predefined constraints and protocols

definitely more work to federate than to just have a solution that talks to a database! especially at scale

Nollij, 11 months ago

They certainly could, but using something off the shelf saves development time and costs. Not only did someone else already do the base work, but they are fixing bugs and adding features as an ongoing task. And that all happens free, without Meta spending a dime. Meta only needs to add their customizations.

There’s been plenty of speculation on why they want to federate, which is much less clear. It could be an attempt to get around EU antitrust (etc) laws. It could be an attempt to usurp Mastodon as the primary destination for Twitter refugees. It could be an attempt to slurp up the data from people that refuse to give it to Meta. But this is all just speculation, and it’s unlikely that they will honestly reveal their reasoning.

4z01235, 11 months ago

Are they using an off the shelf ActivityPub implementation (if so, which?) or just implementing the protocol themselves? If it’s the latter, which I expect it is, then implementing the protocol does not save development time or effort. It’s just a set of specifications that they decide to conform to, rather than doing things some other way that may better suit their business goals.

ritswd, 11 months ago

I signed up for Threads, and there were 3 upsides of Threads on their welcome screen, one of them was that it will be part of the fediverse someday. It doesn’t mean they’ll do it, but they definitely intend to use ActivityPub as more than just an internal protocol.

Oswald_Buzzbald, 11 months ago

Could be that Threads will use ActivityPub to feverste with other Meta platforms in the future too, assuming they want to add such capabilities to Instagram and Facebook.

ritswd, 11 months ago

It could be, but they specifically used the word “fediverse” in their marketing. It doesn’t make it sound like they want to create a new thing, that would sound like they want to integrate with the existing fediverse.

cupcakezealot, 11 months ago

The Verge has an interview with Adam Mosseri and he mentions ActivityPub will be coming soon^™️^. Whether or not it actually happens, we’ll see.

theverge.com/…/instagram-threads-adam-mosseri-int…

Xylia, 11 months ago

The Threads app itself clarifies that the intent is to federate down the road.

sj_zero, 11 months ago

On mastodon, you can subscribe to communities on platforms like Lemmy, the community looks like a user. On that side of things, it just acts like a relay that accepts messages and then sends it out to everyone who is subscribed.

However, your thoughts are on the right track. You don’t really see that many Mastodon users on lemmy.

Mane25, 11 months ago

How does it work the other way round? If I wanted to follow someone on Mastodon from Lemmy, can I do that?

sj_zero, 11 months ago

I don’t think there’s any way since there’s no way to follow a user in Lemmy regardless of what platform they’re using.

Mane25, 11 months ago

Fair enough, I wondered if there was a way to make a user appear as a community somehow but I’ve never found it.

T156, 11 months ago

However, your thoughts are on the right track. You don’t really see that many Mastodon users on lemmy.

You wouldn’t be able to using just Lemmy. Mastodon user posts don’t show up on their own, only if a Mastodon user replies to a Lemmy post.

Kbin has an easier time of it (since you can see their microblog posts, and follow them), but it also suffers from some posts not loading because they’re not Federated properly yet.

stux, 11 months ago

If this where to happen, my guess is it’s the same as Mastodon and many other platrforms that are also microblogging!

For example, if you “mention” a community from Mastodon within a post the post will show up on that community. Here’s an example I just posted from Mastodon to Lemmy: geddit.social/post/183439

cupcakezealot, 11 months ago

And the other way around too… without federation, you couldn’t follow a lemmy user on Mastodon and see their posts and comments as a timeline.

animist, 11 months ago

We are federated with mastodon instances. Beauty of the fediverse

Nollij, 11 months ago

My understanding is that Mastodon users can reach into Lemmy communities, but not vice versa. It’s unclear exactly how Threads would fit into the picture, because it’s still theoretical.