Meta has just made a significant enhancement to its Threads fediverse integration – though there are still some key limits to what is possible in the app …

What is the fediverse?

Most social networks are self-contained, privately-owned platforms. You can tweet on X, but nobody on Facebook will see your post, for example.

The fediverse (“federated universe”) is more like email: It doesn’t matter that you use iCloud mail while your friends use Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo – you can each freely message each other. The fediverse is the same idea for public social media posts. You can post on Threads, and (if you’ve opted into the fediverse) your friend on Mastodon will be able to read it.

Threads fediverse integration enhanced

You’ve so far been able to opt-in to fediverse sharing of your Threads posts, but you couldn’t view replies made outside of Threads. Meta says this has now changed.

We’re introducing the ability for users who turn on fediverse sharing to see and like replies from people on other servers, directly in Threads.

The company says it’s also rolling out to a lot more countries.

We’re also expanding the availability of the fediverse beta experience to more than 100 countries and hope to roll it out everywhere soon.

Engadget says that the integration is, however, still frustratingly limited.

The change marks the first time Threads users who have opted into fediverse sharing will be able to see content that originated in the fediverse directly on Threads.

There are still some limitations, though. Meta says that, frustratingly, Threads users won’t be able to respond directly to replies from users in the fediverse. It also notes that “some replies may not be visible,” so Threads’ notifications still won’t be the most reliable place to track your engagement.

Meta posted a reminder of instructions for enabling fediverse sharing.

To turn on sharing to the fediverse, go to your Account Settings, tap on Fediverse sharing (Beta) and follow the instructions. Sharing to the fediverse is available to Threads users ages 18 and up with public profiles. 

9to5Mac collage of images from Meta and Codioful on Unsplash