David ImelJun 16
It's just about been a year since Threads started its Fediverse integration, so tomorrow, June 17th around 12:15pm ET I'll be interviewing @pcottle (in a Thread lol) to ask about where the company is at with Fediverse integration, what they've done so far, and what's still left to do.

Tune in if you're interested 🤙
#Fediverse Threads
Show threadDavid ImelJun 17
Ok @pcottle - Good to go?
#Fediverse Threads
Show threadPeter CottleJun 17
Let's do it!
Show threadDavid ImelJun 17
With the new Fediverse feed you guys just announced, you specifically see top-level posts from other servers. Is there a technical reason for not being able to see comments? I feel a lot of the interaction on social is the people are engaged with these platforms.
Show threadPeter CottleJun 17
Nope, there’s no technical reason. It’s just that sometimes replies and reposts can clog up a feed, especially when there's duplicated content. Focusing on top-level replies allowed us to create a cleaner product experience, and that’s especially important as we bring the fediverse mainstream 😇
Show threadDavid ImelJun 17
I'm curious how this is different from a standard Threads feed though? You see top-level posts initially and then click in to engage. If you only see top-level posts but still can't comment on these posts, this feels more like a viewing feed than an engaging feed?
Show threadPeter CottleJun 17
This milestone only includes the fediverse following feed and search functionality for now, but the eventual goal is to allow replying to fediverse posts and replies. We’ve been perfecting reply distribution in the For You feed since Threads launched, and we’re open to including replies in the fediverse feed if we find the right solution.

But just to be clear, you can *see* fediverse replies on any post today if they exist.
Show threadDavid ImelJun 17
Got it, thank you. Does the team have a timeline for when it anticipates users will be able to reply to Fediverse posts and comments? This feels like the biggest bottleneck users face. I always feel bad not being able to reply to users on other servers who reply to me on Threads.
Show threadPeter CottleJun 17
I feel the same way sometimes – nothing like a good fediverse reply that I want to respond to :)

We started by focusing on delivering content from Threads to the fediverse (outbound). Now that we’ve been bringing content into Threads from the fediverse (inbound), and have a pretty complete MVP there, a natural next step is to revisit more of that outbound functionality, including the ability to reply. It’s definitely top of mind for us to make this a full experience.
Show threadDavid ImelJun 17
Great, excited for that to launch.

Is Threads looking to expand community knowledge of federation with this most recent release? Have you thought about adding it to the onboarding process? Most people have no idea what I'm talking about when I tell them about it, and many photographers I know (who'd I love to get federated) worry about distribution for federated images. Are you guys working on any kind of user outreach to help people understand the benefits and make it easier to turn it on?
Show threadPeter CottleJun 17
It makes the most sense to encourage adoption when we have the full MVP with both outbound and inbound federation. This will be an exciting moment for creators like yourself and casual users alike.

In terms of education, we’re being thoughtful about how we bring people into the fediverse – both with consistent iconography throughout the app and easy information sheets that link to deeper articles about decentralization:
https://help.instagram.com/169559812696339
Help Center

Show threadPeter CottleJun 17
In addition to in-app education, we also published this neat Fediverse privacy guide for anyone to access that helps explain the concept as well:
https://www.facebook.com/privacy/guide/fediverse/

At the end of the day is a balancing act – getting concrete steps in the interop functionality while bringing users onboard who want to adopt early 🥳
Facebook

Show threadDavid ImelJun 17
Makes sense! Will be excited to see the push once full 2-way integration is achieved.

Speaking of which, 2 years ago Adam Mosseri stated he wants account portability to be an important part of Threads' fediverse efforts. Quoted: "...you may one day end up leaving Threads, or, hopefully not, end up de-platformed. If that ever happens, you should be able to take your audience with you to another server. Being open can enable that."

How is Meta thinking about portability now, 2 years later?
Abraham WilliamsJun 17
Show threadPeter Cottle
We don’t have a concrete timeline for account portability, but this is something that’s top of mind for us. Some of the most important work for the open social web is in interoperability though – the kind of functionality we announced today that 350M+ Threads users can now use daily!

This is where interop shines. It’s just very cool to me that our servers are speaking to 75% of Fediverse servers, and sending posts, likes, and replies back and forth over the Internet in a decentralized way :)
Jun 17 at 5:11pmWeb
Show threadDavid ImelJun 17
Definitely. Can't wait for the 2-way integration.
Thanks for your time!
Show threadPeter CottleJun 17
Thanks for all the questions and the continued Fediverse advocacy 🙌
Show threadVladson Lima 🍿Jun 17
That’s it? 😔
I was wondering if you could explain another key points like why it’s taking so long for Trending Topics outside US, for example.
Show threadAnuj AhoojaJun 17
We're happy to help using Bounce if y'all want it rolled out earlier 🙂
Show threadwakest ⁂Jun 17
@pcottle isn't this still not available for European flagged accounts? So that number must be much lower right?