Though I consider myself Mastodon-first, I also am relatively active on Threads. One thing I see quite often are people with quick takes on how Mastodon “sucks” and no one cares about “federation”. Since Threads only offers me 500 characters (in a single thread) to respond to these folks, I wanted to write up a longer piece here that I can share, which details the benefits of federation and the ActivityPub platform for Threads users and also talk a little bit about why Mastodon is actually pretty great!

ActivityPub, the Fediverse and Why You Should Care

ActivityPub (“AP”) support is coming to Threads, as said by the head of Instagram himself. With AP in place, Threads can then become part of the “Fediverse”, which can be thought of as the larger network of interconnected platforms that can communicate with one another using AP as the underlying protocol. So how does Threads and its users benefit from joining the Fediverse? I’ll explain by desribing the interoperability and portability benefits.

  • Interoperability: All other platforms that are on the Fediverse can interact with each other using AP. Mastodon has traditionally been the largest AP-enabled platform but what else is part of the Fediverse? Here’s a list of AP-enabled platforms. Yes, this list is mostly represented by small projects but more recently, WordPress has brought their AP plugin online which allows WordPress sites to federate and therefore be followable by any other account on the Fediverse. This is huge as WordPress makes up ~40+% of the entire Internet. Now you can follow websites directly from your Threads account and/or use your WordPress site as an identity/account for social media, also within the Fediverse. Amazing! Now imagine other large platforms (i.e. Tumblr, Flipboard, Medium, Mozilla) implementing AP support and what that could mean for you as a Threads user and for the Internet as a whole? Imagine instead of sharing a screenshot or link to a website or other social media platform post you could natively share it directly on whatever platform you were on!

  • Portability: When Twitter crumbled, people were at a loss. Stay, despite the descension into a hellsite? Or leave, abandoning your followers and having no real place to set up shop next? A number of other platforms gained traction at that time, Threads, Mastodon, BlueSky, etc… but for each of them you now had the task of rebuilding your following and making a new network. For some, having an existing Instagram graph helped bootstrap their Threads following, but for many, they were at 0 once again. With AP support, you would in theory be able to pick up your account from Threads and port it over to another platform completely (like Mastodon), your followers would come with you keeping your graph and identity intact. This adds a resilience not accessible with traditional centralized platforms and helps mitigate other issues like deplatforming.

    • Threads adopting ActivityPub and amassing the larget user-base of the Fediverse could cement them as the eternal dominant player in the social space. That said, if the platform were to enshittify for all the reasons these services typically do, users would not be stranded. Great!

These are probably the two biggest features AP offers to Threads users, but other benefits exist too!

Why Mastodon / Fediverse is good

Let me address the other comment I’ve seen on Threads quite a bit - that Mastodon “sucks” or is just for weird anarchists, furries or techies. The uncorporate and privacy-concious qualities of Mastodon DO make it a nice place for these communities, but these same characteristics and other benefits also make it a nice place for really any community!

Here’s a list of benefits of an open and decentralized network.

  • Follow-fueled, chronological timeline. Tired of seeing certain types of content thrust into your feed? Worry no more! Mastodon does not rely on an algorithmic timeline. You see only what you follow and what your follows boost. If your interested in an algorithmic feed, some Mastodon clients are starting to build this functionaity into their apps.
  • Mastodon has no ads and there is no one trying to monetize your existence and use of the platform.
  • The anti-viral nature of an algorithm-less timeline means no (or less) rage/engagement-baiting for the sake of driving platform engagement.
  • Similarly, the lack of an algorithm driving what appears in the timeline means no opportunity for algorithmic-downranking of posts.
  • Did I mention that you aren’t monetized? You are not the product.
  • No influencers or brands clogging up your timeline. That said, you’re free to follow either if you choose!
  • Everything from your Mastodon instance (server) to the client you use is customizable.
  • There are third-party apps/clients.
  • If you are so inclined, you can self-host your own Mastodon instance! This is a great way to prove the authenticity of your account, to improve “branding” and a great vanity piece.
  • You have more control over data ownership.
  • It’s open source! The glitch-soc fork offers a number of improvements to the out-of-the-box Mastodon experience.
  • Mastodon is by nature, “decentralized”. This adds resilience and more to the network.
  • Contextual, community-run moderation. On Threads, you rely on Facebook’s one-size-fits-all moderation approach. With Mastodon, each instance performs their own moderation so you get a much more custom, tailored approach to moderation.
  • Deplatforming/censorship resistance. Since you can move accounts and host your own federated instance, you can make yourself extremely resilient in the face of possible deplatforming/censorship.
  • The Fediverse has by far the most interoperability with other networks. You can interface with the entire universe of AP-compatible networks while also engaging with those on Bluesky, Threads, Nostr and more.
  • Mastodon isn’t owned by Facebook*, a billionaire or any one person…

Mastodon isn’t perfect

I’ve really enjoyed my time on Mastodon thus far, but it isn’t without some downsides…

  • Mastodon is a network of disparate hosted instances. Drama often descends upon the Mastodon meta and instance admins are faced with decisions on whether to defederate from other instances.
  • Account migration exists but needs a tune up. It’s not entirely intuitive and does not port follows or historical posts.
  • For users on smaller instances, reachability has technical challenges.
  • Discoverability is hard at first. With no algorithm to speed along finding interesting accounts, some word is required to find who you want to follow.

Wrap-up

Whether you choose Mastodon or Threads shouldn’t matter much in a future world where both leverage AP, just choose whichever you feel comfortable with. If you’re on Threads and you love it that’s great! As a Threads user, you should be excited about an AP-enabled Threads future and should continue to advocate to Threads devs to implement this. Thanks for reading!

References