Mastodon profiles display posts from this point forward, directing users to Threads for older posts
Eugen Rochko, the founder of Mastodon, is enthusiastic about Threads’ recent entry into the decentralized social media arena, asserting that it will significantly enhance Mastodon’s appeal as an open-source alternative to Twitter/X. Mastodon’s application, leveraging the decentralized social networking protocol ActivityPub, has garnered increased attention following Elon Musk’s acquisition and subsequent renaming of Twitter to X.
In response to discontent with Twitter’s transformations, users have explored alternative platforms such as Mastodon, alongside emerging challengers like Spill, Spoutible, Post, Bluesky, and others. However, Instagram’s foray into the “Twitter clone” space has once again altered the landscape. With Meta’s substantial resources backing Threads, the platform quickly amassed nearly 100 million monthly active users within three months of its launch, dwarfing Mastodon’s 1.5 million monthly actives.
Crucially, Meta committed to integrating Threads with ActivityPub, allowing users to connect with Mastodon and Threads users seamlessly across both services. While initial expectations projected integration in early 2024, Meta surprised the community by announcing the commencement of ActivityPub integration testing.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a Threads post, expressed optimism about making Threads interoperable and enhancing user interaction. On the technical side, Rochko clarified in a Mastodon post that the federation, connecting Threads to a broader network of servers running decentralized social apps, is currently “one-way.” This means Mastodon users can follow a selected few Threads user profiles on Mastodon, but not vice versa.
The integration did not backfill Threads users’ profiles on Mastodon with older posts. Instead, Mastodon profiles display posts from this point forward, directing users to Threads for older posts. Rochko, appreciating Meta’s embrace of ActivityPub, sees it as a positive step toward decentralized social media, assuaging concerns about potential protocol manipulation.
As the integration unfolds, Rochko hails it as an “exciting” and “significant” development for Mastodon, emphasizing the move towards an interoperable social web. He argues that accessing Threads users from a Mastodon account enhances the app’s attractiveness, highlighting its other advantages.
This sentiment is echoed by Mammoth, a Mastodon third-party client backed by Mozilla. Mammoth envisions offering a competitive user interface, catering to newcomers in decentralized social media, positioning itself as a viable alternative to Threads. Notably, Mammoth embraces news partnerships and curation, a departure from Threads’ stance on news.
With Threads seamlessly integrating into Mastodon’s ecosystem, users gain increased flexibility in engaging with Threads users and content, empowering them to choose their preferred app for accessing these accounts.
