Instagram’s Threads: A New App for Interconnected Social Media Experience

Instagram’s Threads app is now available on iPhone, Android smartphones, and the web, offering users a separate but integrated social media experience.

Threads, an application developed by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, aims to challenge Twitter despite being an independent platform. Users have the convenience of logging in to Threads using their Instagram accounts.

Like Twitter, Threads allow users to follow others, write threaded posts (similar to tweets), reshare content (like retweets), and share images and videos.

However, what sets Threads apart is its support for the ActivityPub protocol, which enables participation in the decentralized social web.

Although the app initially launched without ActivityPub support, Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, confirmed that it will be added. ActivityPub is also used by another Twitter competitor, Mastodon.

ActivityPub is a protocol that promotes interoperability in social media networks, allowing users to communicate across different platforms, much like how email works, regardless of the email service provider.

By integrating ActivityPub, Threads aims to be part of the fediverse, a network of interconnected servers operated by various third parties. This means Threads users can interact with individuals on other platforms, like Mastodon, not owned or controlled by the company.

This move towards decentralization and interoperability is seen as a victory for the cause of better, less exploitative social media services. Threads users will be able to follow and be followed by individuals on different servers within the fediverse.

Users with private accounts have the ability to approve follow requests from both Threads and external servers. Also, content and information may be exchanged between servers.