I see this misconception a lot, so let’s clear it up. The term “threadiverse” originally referred to the “threaded fediverse” — specifically platforms like Lemmy and kbin, which function similarly to Reddit with threaded discussions and link aggregation. Thus, Bluesky and Threads, on the other hand, are not part of the threadiverse because they follow the microblogging model, not the threaded link aggregation model.

It’s also important to note that this usage predates Meta’s "Threads.”

Timeline:

  • June 4, 2023: First mention of “threadiverse” I can find on Lemmy (source)
  • June 8, 2023: Meta announces upcoming codename “Project 92” (source)
  • July 3-5, 2023: Meta launches Project 92 as “Threads,” reusing the name of a previously discontinued non-fediverse product (source)
  • March 21, 2024: Meta’s Threads opens its integration to the fediverse (source)
    • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
      2·
      10 hours ago

      Some people seem to REALLY dislike it, but possibly they are not numerically all that many? Which is why I initially wanted to write that post, and now there’s this one also trying to correct the source of the misunderstanding.

      Interesting comment from db0:

      Ye it’s a problem term. I don’t know if it can be reclaimed, but listing all the software is also not great and most people think of microblogging when they hear “Fediverse”. Maybe “Nestedverse” or “Forumverse”? I don’t really have a good catchy term in mind.

      That said, I keep using Threadiverse lately and nobody seems to be challenging it so perhaps its usage is not as problematic as I thought, or as you say here, as much as in the past? It might mainly be a consideration for someone promoting us to Reddit if they wanted to use the term.