Threads is enhancing visibility for fediverse replies in its app

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Over the last six months, Meta has slowly begun to make good on its promise to make Threads compatible with the fediverse. The app allows users to share their posts to Mastodon and other Activity Pub-enabled services and began showing replies originating on those services earlier this summer.

Now, Threads is making those replies even more visible by allowing users who have opted in to fediverse sharing to see replies on other people’s posts. With the change, a new “fediverse replies” section will appear underneath posts that have drawn replies from Mastodon servers and other federated accounts.

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This update means that more fediverse content will now be visible within Threads. Previously, most users likely didn’t see many replies from Mastodon and other platforms unless they had a large following or a widely shared post. However, with this update, you can view all those replies simply by browsing Threads.

That said, Threads’ support for ActivityPub content remains limited. Users need to opt-in to fediverse sharing to view replies from other apps. Still in its “beta” phase, the feature notes that some replies may not appear on the Meta-owned platform. Additionally, Threads doesn’t yet support replying to those replies, which significantly restricts interaction with other fediverse users. (Meta engineer Peter Cottle mentioned that adding this functionality is a priority.) However, this update might encourage more users to open their accounts to the fediverse, a crucial step for those aiming to bring decentralized social media into the mainstream.