Meta’s Threads Embraces Interoperability Across Social Platforms

Shares of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reached their highest level in a year as the social media giant launched Twitter rival Threads. Due to problems at Twitter, the rivalry between the billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg has intensified.

Meta’s stock surged over 2% on the daily charts on Wednesday despite a recent anti-trust ruling against the company.

Mark Zuckerberg has launched the text-based sharing app in direct competition with Twitter. The debut has positively impacted Meta shares, taking them to an 18-month high.

The positive stock reaction comes despite a European Court siding against the tech mammoth in an antitrust case the previous day.

In a statement, Meta unveiled the features of its latest launch. Threads provide a separate space for real-time updates and public conversations. Existing Instagram users can reproduce their following list on Threads if they use the same login, thanks to how Threads connects with Instagram.

Threads’ default setting for minor users is a private profile. Instagram-like features like following accounts, meeting new people, and commenting on posts are also available on Threads. It allows users to post up to 500 characters long messages that can contain links, images, and videos up to five minutes long.

Contrarily, Twitter offers 280-character-long posts.

With the introduction of Threads, Meta hopes to usher in an interconnected social media network.

Threads in an Interoperable Network

Threads aim to foster interoperability with other social apps through ActivityPub. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) established it as an open social networking protocol.

Threads will be able to communicate with other apps that accept the protocol, such as Twitter rival Mastodon and content manager WordPress, by partnering with ActivityPub.

Notably, this does open up new possibilities for connections and interactions between diverse networks. ActivityPub would enable the transfer of content to other services.

According to Meta,

“The benefits of open social networking protocols go well beyond the ways people can follow each other. Developers can build new types of features and user experiences that can easily plug into other open social networks, accelerating the pace of innovation and experimentation.”

The fact that each compatible app can set its own community standards and content moderation guidelines is another point to be made. Meta’s decentralized strategy is similar to the protocols regulating email and the web, demonstrating its significance in determining the direction of online platforms.

The recent turmoil at Twitter could contribute to a surge in activity on Threads. The platform’s new reading restrictions have apparently been felt by TweetDeck, a popular aggregator that monitors several accounts.  

Musk recently capped the number of tweets verified, unverified and new users can view per day. Users from all across the world have also noticed problems with the website. Some claim that the website went down suddenly, while others claim that the auto-refresh function is broken.

Meta has launched in 100 countries, including the US, UK, and India. But, it has decided not to launch the Threads app in the European Union (EU). While an expected date for the launch is awaited, the decision comes in response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

As the law sets stronger requirements for protecting users’ personal data, the tech giant appears to be playing it safe with the regulators. The Act refers to Meta and similar businesses as “gatekeepers.”

But Meta believes that the lack of clarity and higher scrutiny of how user data should be handled has led to the region’s launch delay.

In the meantime, Threads reportedly attracted 5 million users hours after the launch. This is primarily due to Instagram’s current popularity.