Here is what we know about it so far:
- It will most likely be called Threads.
- It is not known what domain it will use for usernames.
- In mockup screenshots, a user replies to someone using an
@mastodon.socialhandle, it’s very likely that they will federate. - It will be side app of Instagram. It’s not clear how much of the new network will be baked into the main app.
- Your username and verification status will carry over, so early adopters won’t have an advantage for their preferred username.
- Your followers will not carry over but there will be an easy way to pick and follow people on your Instagram list.
Personal observations:
- Many people that I talked to about it think that this will be Meta’s attempt at an “EEE”.
- Some Mastodon instance admins that I chatted about it say that Meta will “likely attempt to pull their user data”, and they “will defederate immediately”.
I know this is an upopular opinion to have in the Fediverse, but I’ll probably try it out. Twitter, as mush as it pains me to admit, had its uses pre-Musk. And a lot of people have stayed on the platform because they don’t have anywhere else viable to be (because of the size of their audience or how complicated jumping into the Fediverse can be, for example). So a mainstream alternative to Twitter that’s not run by the dumbest boy in school is very much a market Meta can take advantage of. And while I doubt they have good intentions behind including ActivityPub, I’m in “wait and see” mode for now.
Bear in mind that there are already large ActivityPub platforms that are run by bad actors. Most of the users of those platforms don’t even know they’re on the Fediverse.
The one that comes to mind is Trump’s Truth Social. Internally, it’s built on Mastodon. It can technically federate with anywhere else.
Most places defederate with Truth Social because they don’t want to be associated with it - but it’s still Fediverse and still technically can interop with everyone else.