Meta just made an important update for Threads users who are sharing posts to the fediverse. The company began allowing users to opt-in to sharing their Threads posts to Mastodon and other ActivityPub-powered services back in March. But the integration has been fairly limited, with Threads users unable to view replies and most other interactions to their posts without switching over to a Mastodon client or other app.
That’s now changing. The Threads app will now be able to show replies and likes from Mastodon and other services, Meta announced. The change marks the first time Threads users who have opted into fediverse sharing will be able to see content that originated in the fediverse directly on Threads.
There are still some limitations, though. Meta says that, frustratingly, Threads users won’t be able to respond directly to replies from users in the fediverse. It also notes that “some replies may not be visible,” so Threads’ notifications still won’t be the most reliable place to track your engagement.
Meta also announced that it’s expanding the fediverse sharing options to more users, with the feature live in more than 100 countries. (Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said the company is hoping to turn the fediverse beta features on everywhere “soon.”)
The changes are an important step for anyone who cares about the future of decentralized social media. Though Meta has been somewhat slow to deliver on its promises to support ActivityPub in Threads, the app has the potential to bring tens of millions of people into the fediverse.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-can-now-show-replies-from-mastodon-and-other-fediverse-apps-224127213.html?src=rss