Here is what we know about it so far:
- It will most likely be called Threads.
- It is not known what domain it will use for usernames.
- In mockup screenshots, a user replies to someone using an
@mastodon.socialhandle, it’s very likely that they will federate. - It will be side app of Instagram. It’s not clear how much of the new network will be baked into the main app.
- Your username and verification status will carry over, so early adopters won’t have an advantage for their preferred username.
- Your followers will not carry over but there will be an easy way to pick and follow people on your Instagram list.
Personal observations:
- Many people that I talked to about it think that this will be Meta’s attempt at an “EEE”.
- Some Mastodon instance admins that I chatted about it say that Meta will “likely attempt to pull their user data”, and they “will defederate immediately”.
I’m of the same mind - I’ll watch with great interest and welcome interaction with users on Meta-run instances, but I don’t think it’ll be much of a threat to the fediverse. The increased activity from Meta will in some ways be a rising tide that adds to the appeal of existing instances, and their development on top of ActivityPub will potentially be useful as case-studies of what kinds of UX can feasibly be built on top of ActivityPub, and may serve as lessons to existing fediverse projects that we can learn from as we find ways to provide good UX on top of a complex federated system - either as good examples of ways to present federated data structures in ways that are easy to understand, or as examples of what not to do if they do something that doesn’t work well.
My limited understanding of this is once a Meta instance user follows or communicates with another user or magazine/collection on a kbin, Lemmy, Mastodon or any other Fediverse instance, that account is now accessible to everyone on that Meta instance. Other people with Meta accounts can see those kbin etc. posts on their federated timeliness. What that also means is that there is less of a reason to visit kbin, Lemmy etc. for their content and create an account in one of their instances. Meta becomes the face of the fediverse… In other words, it can kill off the need for non-Meta instances. (Maybe I am misunderstanding this. If I am, please someone provide the correct info!)
I personally do not want a Meta instance account because I like the anonymity of my kbin and Mastodon (and Reddit) usernames. I updated my FB pic once and Meta automatically updated my IG one. My IG handle was automatically that of my FB one. It was very annoying (and inhibiting). I don’t want everyone and their Nana seeing what my interests are.
Plus, it may just be another way to data mine and will be filled with ads and boosted posts from magazines im not subscribed to and people and hastags I have no interest in.
Absolutely. Devs at Facebook, Twitter, etc have built a ton of great things that have been adopted by web devs across the industry. I’m looking forward to what they do with ActivityPub that we get to ‘steal’