GLAAD’s Social Media Safety Program reported the following anti-trans hate content across Instagram, Facebook, and Threads; Meta deemed all of it non-violative or did not take action on it.
Way ahead of you. What benefit is there even in federating with Threads? I tried looking at the front page and it’s almost exclusively “ads as posts” or wannabe influencers trying to attract an audience.
Even wilder, most of the posts Threads show me on the front page have like, less than 10 replies. I saw one (1) post with close to 200 replies. Even the Fediverse has more engagement than this!
This “ads as posts” thing was one of my two biggest concerns with Threads federation. I really hoped I would turn out to be wrong about it, but at the end of the day, both Facebook itself, as well as big social media influencers, rely on advertising for their profits. For anybody looking to avoid ads on Lemmy, it seems like direct federation with Threads is not a good idea currently. On lemm.ee, “no advertising” has been one of our 4 core instance rules from the start.
My other major concern was Threads having the ability to enforce their feed algorithms on federated instances through sheer number of votes on things they show in their feeds, but judging by what you’re saying about the engagement, at least that concern has not materialized (at least yet).
For anybody looking to avoid ads on Lemmy, it seems like direct federation with Threads is not a good idea currently.
It will never be a good idea to federated with threads. There will always be some kind of malicious behavior from threads that makes federating with threads a terrible idea.
Theoretically but in actuality no. All Lemmy content is accessed through communities and since threads content isn’t associated with a community, there is no way to actually access it.
This could change with future iterations of Lemmy but for now I think all this ranting and arguing is completely moot.
It is more relevant if you use mastodon but I don’t.
Yes, in the same way that Mastodon and Lemmy federate at the moment. It’s all using ActivityPub underneath, which is the protocol of the Fediverse essentially.
You can’t follow individuals with Lemmy but you can see Mastodon user’s comments on posts and Mastodon users will see your comments and posts on Mastodon with certain hashtags, I believe.
Mastodon is unusable if you follow Lemmy communities, so no one does.
But that wasn’t my question. If a Lemmy instance I am on federates with Threads, how do I find people on Threads, follow them, and have their posts appear in my Lemmy feed? The people who are saying it can be done are not also explaining how it can be done. You seem to be saying, in a roundabout way, that it cannot be done?
how do I find people on Threads, follow them, and have their posts appear in my Lemmy feed?
As I said, you cannot do this with Lemmy (at this time at least). Lemmy only supports following communities. Threads users will be able to post to communities and comment on posts and vote as well, and you can reply to them and they’ll see your replies too. It federates in that way.
I follow the Green brothers too and with how much they discuss how social media should be better for humans and all that, it’s surprising to me that they aren’t on the Fediverse or even talking about it. But they may just be unaware I guess.
This surprises me too. There is a Nerdfighters Mastodon server, but it is pretty small, and I haven’t heard it mentioned on vlogbrothers (though I am a few years behind). The fediverse seems fairly well aligned with nerdfighteria, and I’m surprised there isn’t more activity and discussion on it.
I’d been thinking about joining Mastodon and I hadn’t decided which server to join, maybe I’ll join this one? But the question of do I want to see Threads content is a big one - there’s a few people I’d like to see, and there’s a lot that I really don’t.
The Fediverse is not large enough to replace Twitter/Reddit (for breadth and depth of content) and it is unlikely to become large enough any time soon.
Fortunately, Mastodon does not push an algorithmic feed on me so I can follow people I want to hear from on Threads without having to put up with the bullshit that comes from being on Threads.
I recognise that the lack of moderation on Threads means that instances which do federate may be faced with a lot of extra work and not all instances will be up for that, and that’s totally fair.
But it would be good if there was at least one instance which allowed access to people on Threads without having to make an account with Meta.
FWIW it’s not a coincidence that Threads didn’t make federation possible until after they’d found a legal way to launch in the EU. They knew that if they federated first, the Fediverse would get a lot of EU users who would otherwise have joined Threads. I don’t think the entire Fediverse should cut itself off from Threads when many of its users might also like access to the feed without the Meta bullshit piled on top.
But it would be good if there was at least one instance which allowed access to people on Threads without having to make an account with Meta.
I mean, there are plenty of such instances I’m sure. People are of course always free to go to instances that federate with the stuff they want to see.
I don’t think moderation is the only reason for defederating with Threads.
Personally, I would like to be able to follow individual Threads users if I so desire but not have Threads content showing up in my All feed. I don’t know if that’s possible with how federation/individual blocking currently works, but it would be the ideal, I think.
Out of curiosity, would you want Threads users to be able to vote on what you do see on the All feed or should their votes not be counted, just as their content is not shown?
So as per @Kierunkowy74’s reply to me, limiting (basically what I described) is a feature on Mastodon already. It basically just sets things to follower-only mode on a per-instance basis. I’m not sure how well that would translate to the threadiverse, but I do think some level of opt-in integration would be best.
To go on a slight tangent: I’ve never used Imgur as anything other than a image hosting site, but I’m aware it has people that use it as a social network in its own right. Whenever I’ve hosted anything on Imgur in the past - even images that don’t need any context - I’ve noticed it always ended up downvoted and sometimes with some negative comments, while the reception on reddit was generally far better. It doesn’t bother me - like I said, I just used it as an image host - but it’s clear Imgur has its own culture. Threads could be the same, and trying to merge its culture with ours could prove difficult.
I don’t know what full-on federation with Threads would look like, but federating vote counts could definitely lead to Threads culture overwhelming threadiverse culture. But I assume that’s also something that can be done on a per-instance basis; I know kbin (which I use) already doesn’t federate downvotes from other instances, for example.
I’m not sure I have a fully-formed opinion on it all yet, unfortunately. I don’t like the idea of cutting Threads off completely unless they do something to earn defederation. I think finding a way to smoothly federate with Threads could give the fediverse a boost in users that could be significant for more niche communities that haven’t managed to find a large enough audience yet (because yes, I’m still missing some of the smaller communities from reddit). But I do also think there are very valid concerns about both the long-term and immediate impacts Threads could have on the fediverse.
On Mastodon it is possible, when an instance (like Threads) is limited. Limiting is not outright suspending, and limited instance still federates, but its posts and users are not visible unless you explicitly search for them. Also, no one from a limited instance will follow you unless you approve them as a follower.
That sounds like a good solution. I don’t want to need an account on a different platform to see Threads, but I also don’t want the feeds to just be overrun by Threads users, and that seems to achieve that.
I guess the ideal situation as far as I’m concerned would be for users to be able to choose that setting on an individual basis. Obviously anyone can set up their own instance and achieve that, but being able to do it without being an instance admin would be the best.
Way ahead of you. What benefit is there even in federating with Threads? I tried looking at the front page and it’s almost exclusively “ads as posts” or wannabe influencers trying to attract an audience.
Even wilder, most of the posts Threads show me on the front page have like, less than 10 replies. I saw one (1) post with close to 200 replies. Even the Fediverse has more engagement than this!
This “ads as posts” thing was one of my two biggest concerns with Threads federation. I really hoped I would turn out to be wrong about it, but at the end of the day, both Facebook itself, as well as big social media influencers, rely on advertising for their profits. For anybody looking to avoid ads on Lemmy, it seems like direct federation with Threads is not a good idea currently. On lemm.ee, “no advertising” has been one of our 4 core instance rules from the start.
My other major concern was Threads having the ability to enforce their feed algorithms on federated instances through sheer number of votes on things they show in their feeds, but judging by what you’re saying about the engagement, at least that concern has not materialized (at least yet).
It will never be a good idea to federated with threads. There will always be some kind of malicious behavior from threads that makes federating with threads a terrible idea.
Appreciate everything you do for us here! ✊
Can Lemmy federate with Threads?
I can follow Lemmy communities from Mastodon (but don’t because it just fills your feed with an avalanche of out-of-context posts).
I can’t follow anyone on Mastodon from Lemmy (and while I think it is, or should be, possible from kBin, that doesn’t seem to work well yet).
So how can a Lemmy instance federate with Threads and how would their micro-blog posts turn up on Lemmy?
I’m not remotely bothered by federation on Mastodon because there is no algorithm pushing crap on me there. I’ll get what I follow and nothing else.
Theoretically but in actuality no. All Lemmy content is accessed through communities and since threads content isn’t associated with a community, there is no way to actually access it.
This could change with future iterations of Lemmy but for now I think all this ranting and arguing is completely moot.
It is more relevant if you use mastodon but I don’t.
Yes, in the same way that Mastodon and Lemmy federate at the moment. It’s all using ActivityPub underneath, which is the protocol of the Fediverse essentially.
You can’t follow individuals with Lemmy but you can see Mastodon user’s comments on posts and Mastodon users will see your comments and posts on Mastodon with certain hashtags, I believe.
Mastodon is unusable if you follow Lemmy communities, so no one does.
But that wasn’t my question. If a Lemmy instance I am on federates with Threads, how do I find people on Threads, follow them, and have their posts appear in my Lemmy feed? The people who are saying it can be done are not also explaining how it can be done. You seem to be saying, in a roundabout way, that it cannot be done?
As I said, you cannot do this with Lemmy (at this time at least). Lemmy only supports following communities. Threads users will be able to post to communities and comment on posts and vote as well, and you can reply to them and they’ll see your replies too. It federates in that way.
It’s frustrating because there are a few people I like, like John Green, who are on threads but not the rest of the fediverse
I follow the Green brothers too and with how much they discuss how social media should be better for humans and all that, it’s surprising to me that they aren’t on the Fediverse or even talking about it. But they may just be unaware I guess.
This surprises me too. There is a Nerdfighters Mastodon server, but it is pretty small, and I haven’t heard it mentioned on vlogbrothers (though I am a few years behind). The fediverse seems fairly well aligned with nerdfighteria, and I’m surprised there isn’t more activity and discussion on it.
I’d been thinking about joining Mastodon and I hadn’t decided which server to join, maybe I’ll join this one? But the question of do I want to see Threads content is a big one - there’s a few people I’d like to see, and there’s a lot that I really don’t.
The Fediverse is not large enough to replace Twitter/Reddit (for breadth and depth of content) and it is unlikely to become large enough any time soon.
Fortunately, Mastodon does not push an algorithmic feed on me so I can follow people I want to hear from on Threads without having to put up with the bullshit that comes from being on Threads.
I recognise that the lack of moderation on Threads means that instances which do federate may be faced with a lot of extra work and not all instances will be up for that, and that’s totally fair.
But it would be good if there was at least one instance which allowed access to people on Threads without having to make an account with Meta.
FWIW it’s not a coincidence that Threads didn’t make federation possible until after they’d found a legal way to launch in the EU. They knew that if they federated first, the Fediverse would get a lot of EU users who would otherwise have joined Threads. I don’t think the entire Fediverse should cut itself off from Threads when many of its users might also like access to the feed without the Meta bullshit piled on top.
I mean, there are plenty of such instances I’m sure. People are of course always free to go to instances that federate with the stuff they want to see.
I don’t think moderation is the only reason for defederating with Threads.
There are, thankfully, plenty of instances which allow it.
I was responding to a poster who wants it to not be possible. Because a centralised authority making decisions for all users is good, or something.
Personally, I would like to be able to follow individual Threads users if I so desire but not have Threads content showing up in my All feed. I don’t know if that’s possible with how federation/individual blocking currently works, but it would be the ideal, I think.
Not possible with how it works right now, no.
Out of curiosity, would you want Threads users to be able to vote on what you do see on the All feed or should their votes not be counted, just as their content is not shown?
So as per @Kierunkowy74’s reply to me, limiting (basically what I described) is a feature on Mastodon already. It basically just sets things to follower-only mode on a per-instance basis. I’m not sure how well that would translate to the threadiverse, but I do think some level of opt-in integration would be best.
To go on a slight tangent: I’ve never used Imgur as anything other than a image hosting site, but I’m aware it has people that use it as a social network in its own right. Whenever I’ve hosted anything on Imgur in the past - even images that don’t need any context - I’ve noticed it always ended up downvoted and sometimes with some negative comments, while the reception on reddit was generally far better. It doesn’t bother me - like I said, I just used it as an image host - but it’s clear Imgur has its own culture. Threads could be the same, and trying to merge its culture with ours could prove difficult.
I don’t know what full-on federation with Threads would look like, but federating vote counts could definitely lead to Threads culture overwhelming threadiverse culture. But I assume that’s also something that can be done on a per-instance basis; I know kbin (which I use) already doesn’t federate downvotes from other instances, for example.
I’m not sure I have a fully-formed opinion on it all yet, unfortunately. I don’t like the idea of cutting Threads off completely unless they do something to earn defederation. I think finding a way to smoothly federate with Threads could give the fediverse a boost in users that could be significant for more niche communities that haven’t managed to find a large enough audience yet (because yes, I’m still missing some of the smaller communities from reddit). But I do also think there are very valid concerns about both the long-term and immediate impacts Threads could have on the fediverse.
On Mastodon it is possible, when an instance (like Threads) is limited. Limiting is not outright suspending, and limited instance still federates, but its posts and users are not visible unless you explicitly search for them. Also, no one from a limited instance will follow you unless you approve them as a follower.
That sounds like a good solution. I don’t want to need an account on a different platform to see Threads, but I also don’t want the feeds to just be overrun by Threads users, and that seems to achieve that.
I guess the ideal situation as far as I’m concerned would be for users to be able to choose that setting on an individual basis. Obviously anyone can set up their own instance and achieve that, but being able to do it without being an instance admin would be the best.