Darnell (Seize The Day)

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿš€ Darnell.bio ๐Ÿคณ๐Ÿพ @darnell:shh.darnell.ooo ๐Ÿง˜๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Darnell.co

Spoutible banner

Spoutible is surprisingly having some success in raising funds from its community (via Equity Crowdfundingโ€ฝ), as the site has raised over $400,000 from 1,000 โ€œinvestors.โ€

Spoutible fundraising

The company sent an email celebrating the news, although the legal disclosure at the end is concerning.

We've reached a significant milestone โ€“ over 1000 investors have joined us in supporting Spoutible. This achievement is a powerful testament to your unwavering belief and commitment to our mission. It's a moment that reaffirms the strength and passion of our growing Spoutible family.

Since the very beginning, Spoutible has been about building a communityโ€”a community that values positive and respectful online interactions. We are proud to say that this incredible community will own a piece of Spoutible, sharing in our vision and being part of the transformative impact we aim to create. [...]

MANDATORY BOILERPLATE FOR REGULATORY COMPLIANCE FOLLOWS:

We are โ€œtesting the watersโ€ to gauge investor interest in an offering under Regulation Crowdfunding. No money or other consideration is being solicited. If sent, it will not be accepted. No offer to buy securities will be accepted. No part of the purchase price will be received until a Form C is filed and only through Wefunder's platform. Any indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. (Via Spoutible)

Spoutible raising $400,000 is impressive for any X / Twitter alternative, but it is still unclear what โ€œinvestorsโ€ are obtaining in exchange for sending Spoutible cash.

It will be interesting to see if Spoutible is around a year from now, especially with some X alternatives shutting down as the world seems to be rallying around Threads & the Fediverse at large.

Update: Added Wefunder link.

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

Drawing of offset overlapping papers with government symbol at top & Infinity symbol at bottom

If you reside in a country apart of the European Union ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ (EU), European Economic Area (EEA), or Switzerland ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ, you will soon have access to an ad-free Facebook & Instagram streamโ€”for a price.

To comply with evolving European regulations, we are introducing a new subscription option in the EU, EEA and Switzerland. In November, we will be offering people who use Facebook or Instagram and reside in these regions the choice to continue using these personalised services for free with ads, or subscribe to stop seeing ads. While people are subscribed, their information will not be used for ads.

People in these countries will be able to subscribe for a fee to use our products without ads. Depending on where you purchase it will cost โ‚ฌ9.99/month on the web or โ‚ฌ12.99/month on iOS and Android. Regardless of where you purchase, the subscription will apply to all linked Facebook and Instagram accounts in a user's Accounts Center. [...]

The option for people to purchase a subscription for no ads balances the requirements of European regulators while giving users choice and allowing Meta to continue serving all people in the EU, EEA and Switzerland. In its ruling, the CJEU expressly recognised that a subscription model, like the one we are announcing, is a valid form of consent for an ads funded service. (Meta Newsroom)

This is great for the 31 countries in Europe that this affects, but the question I would like to know is: what about the rest of the worldโ€ฝ Many people would gladly pay for an ad-free experience.

Most of the social sites I use I pay to avoid ads, & it would be great not to have them disrupt my experience on Instagram as well (Threads does not yet show ads on the site).

Perhaps Instagram is testing this out in Europe first before rolling it out to the rest of the planetโ€ฝ One can only hope!

Discovered via: @kuketzblog@social.tchncs.de on Mastodon.

Image Credit: Meta

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

So, I just received an email stating that Twitter alternative Pebble will be shutting down next month!

We have some sad news to share with you today: as of November 1, 2023, Pebble will be shutting down.

We are immensely proud of what our team and our community have accomplished together, and we feel validated that our vision for Pebble proved true: that purposeful growth, supported by a deep commitment to safety, can foster a beautiful online community full of vibrant human connection.

The painful truth, however, is that we were not growing quickly enough for investors to believe that we will break out. Combine that with a crowded space of alternatives โ€“ and the uphill climb is even steeper. In order to continue to build out a complete Pebble, we would have needed more investment, and more time.

Over Pebble's final days, we are turning our attention to serving those who've supported us: friends, family, investors, and you โ€” our community. We are looking for ways to keep you connected with each other, but perhaps in a different form. Stay tuned for more on this.

I am unsure what the Pebble team's next move is, but I think their end might signal the exit of other Twitter alternatives.

Unless a micro-blogging platform adopts ActivityPub, I do not see a viable future for most stand-alone Twitter alternatives, especially regarding revenue via advertising or subscriptions.

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

Mentioning NATO who is not on Threads pings NATO who is on Instagram

It appears Meta is not pleased with heavily promoting Threads within the photogenic feed of Instagram (it frequently appears in my Instagram feed now), but people can mention Instagram handles & they will be pinged on their Instagram app.

This only works within the Threads app (the web app will not ping them, unfortunately). Still, it does make me wonder if Instagram is flirting with the idea of activating ActivityPub (even though Mark Zuckerberg hinted that Instagram & Facebook would not enter the Fediverse).

For example, when (not if) Threads joins the Fediverse, if I mention @darnell@threads.net, it will allegedly ping the app. However, I wonder if Meta will expand that capability so that if I mention @darnell@instagram.com, it does the same thingโ€ฝ

Since Instagram powers Threads, Meta could enable Instagram handles to be pinged (perhaps rerouted through Threads endโ€ฝ) without having Instagram directly embrace the Fediverse itself.

The only reason I see Instagram partially embracing the Fediverse is to thwart a potential challenger by the name of Pixelfed, an app whose presence would easily appeal to the insta-masses who are becoming overwhelmed with irrelevant ads.

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

Digital picture of India

Considering how net-savvy citizens from India ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ are, I am surprised by the news that the world's largest democracy is also the world's biggest internet access cutter.

Between 2016 and this May, India accounted for more than half of all the shutdowns recorded worldwide by an international coalition of more than 300 digital rights groups led by Access Now, a nonprofit. On more than 680 occasions during that period, state and local officials in India issued legal orders requiring the country's handful of telecommunication companies to suspend mobile data transmission from cell towers and freeze wired broadband connections.

Indian officials argue that the measure is necessary to prevent the spread of online rumors and contain unrest. But by enforcing a digital blackout, critics say, the government can stifle dissent, cover up abuses and stymie independent reporting that challenges official accounts during times of conflict. The tactic can also exact a drastic, far-reaching economic toll, disrupting commerce, work and education. (Washington Post)

No government wants chaos to result from an Internet rumor, but cutting off access to everyone hurts small businesses and banking services. It also leads to distrust from official or government sources, giving public credibility to even the most outlandish rumors.

I doubt India ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ will consider simply allowing the internet to stay on. Still, if they keep shutting down access to the internet every time a crisis emerges, it will eventually lead towards businesses seeking greener pastures elsewhere to avoid stagnation at home.

Image via: Dig Watch

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

After being pressured by the European Union, Meta is taking aggressive measures to remove any posts praising Hamas on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram & Threads.

After the terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel last week, and Israel's response in Gaza, our teams introduced a series of measures to address the spike in harmful and potentially harmful content spreading on our platforms. Our policies are designed to keep people safe on our apps while giving everyone a voice. We apply these policies equally around the world and there is no truth to the suggestion that we are deliberately suppressing voice. However, content containing praise for Hamas, which is designated by Meta as a Dangerous Organization, or violent and graphic content, for example, is not allowed on our platforms. We can make errors and that is why we offer an appeals process for people to tell us when they think we have made the wrong decision, so we can look into it. (Meta Newsroom)

I have noticed this recently as crazy pro-Hamas replies sent to me on Threads have disappeared (even replies that do not mention the terrorist organization's name).

Meta also seems to be removing any posts circulating false information about Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ on Instagram, which might be the reason Hamas is using Telegram to broadcast their propaganda now.

Compare & contrast Meta's actions with X (formally Twitter) as the site unsurprisingly is rife with misinformation.

Update: Discovered via The Information

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

BBC News icon

So numerous brands are giving up on Threads by Instagram, allegedly due to lack of engagement (ironically, most of them are still using X, formally known as Twitter).

What makes this news more interesting is the fact that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has abandoned its Threads account but is still maintaining its self-hosted Mastodon accounts online.

The National Football League hasn't posted anything in six weeks, before the start of the regular season. This is the nation's most popular sports league, and it has completely abandoned Meta's new platform. Even with its 1.9 million followers.

Among news publishers, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stopped postingto Threads 11 weeks ago, not long after the launch. CBS News hasn't posted in five weeks. (KTLA5)

Earlier in the year (at the end of July), the BBC announced that they were engaging in a six-month experiment with Mastodon, & even self-hosted their content on their custom domain: Social.bbc (how cool is that!).

While accounts like @BBC5Live@social.bbc & @BBCRadio4@social.bbc remain relatively active, @bbc@threads.net appears abandoned, despite boasting far higher engagement levels on Metaโ€™s Twitter rival (now called X).

But why would the BBC abandon Threads while maintaining a presence on Mastodon as well as other social media platformsโ€ฝ There are three possible theories:

  • BBC might be weary of posting content to Threads after Meta geo-banned Canadian news outlets after Canadian legislators passed a โ€œnews taxโ€ law (note: the law is silly, but I digress).

  • BBC prefers to control its social narrative, & will redirect followers from Threads to their Mastodon accounts once Threads joins the Fediverse.

  • BBC thinks Threads is a waste of time & resources as Threads lacks a public API to help automate posting news to their account.

Could the BBC eventually shut down their Mastodon account by the time 2024 arrivesโ€ฝ Sure. But I suspect that with X dying, Threads stagnating, & Meta raging, the BBC might keep their Mastodon account active to avoid having their voice limited online.

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

So Meta is mimicking bad habits from Alphabet (formally known as Google), & has declared all public postings upon Instagram & Facebook to be fair game for their artificial intelligence overlord.

Meta Platforms (META.O) used public Facebook and Instagram posts to train parts of its new Meta AI virtual assistant, but excluded private posts shared only with family and friends in an effort to respect consumers' privacy, the company's top policy executive told Reuters in an interview. (...)

On copyrighted materials, (Meta President of Global Affairs Nick) Clegg said he was expecting a โ€œfair amount of litigationโ€ over the matter of โ€œwhether creative content is covered or not by existing fair use doctrine,โ€ which permits the limited use of protected works for purposes such as commentary, research and parody.

โ€œWe think it is, but I strongly suspect that's going to play out in litigation,โ€ Clegg said. (Via Reuters, italicized text inserted in article to provide clarity of person being quoted)

Meta probably has the legal loophole to win any court case as they can site user submission of content to their platforms as an admission of consent for Meta to use worldwide.

But it does beg the question on whether they will extend their artificial intelligence data vacuum to Threads, the latter which is scheduled to make its debut into the Fediverse.

Users of Instagram & Facebook who do not desire to have their public posts used by the Meta Machine should consider using alternative services like Pixelfed & Friendica.

Discovered via: PCMag

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

Castopod robot icon

Yes, there are companies out there hosting Fediverse alternatives to SoundCloud, but what makes this exciting is that Castopod itself is offering managed hosting via their .com Castopod website.

โ€œPodcasting 2.0โ€ features

Offer new & innovative features to your audience: content geolocation, manage persons, transcription and subtitles, chaptersโ€ฆ

Integrated social network

Talk to your audience through the fediverse โ€“ a decentralized social network โ€“ and connect to millions of users all over the world.

Hosted on our servers

We provide you with your own Castopod instance and take care of all upgrades so you only get to care about creating!

Unlimitedโ€ฆ everything!

No worries about us limiting your creativity. Castopod allows you to manage as many podcasts, episodes and users as you'd like!

Worldwide content delivery

Unlimited broadcast from anywhere in the world, on any platform! Bonus: All plans offer a number of free lightning-fast downloads, ensuring the best possible listener experience.

Bring your own domain

Your choice, free of charge! You may bring your own domain as we recommend or use a free *.podcast.audio subdomain if you prefer!

Complete reversibility

You keep control! Castopod is open-source, meaning that you are free to recover all of your data at any time and host your podcasts wherever you wish!

Props to @ramsey@phpc.social for alerting me about this, as I did not realize @Castopod@podlibre.social even offered this option! Prices start around โ‚ฌ10 per month (there are also annual plans available) & Castopod is even offering a discount for those who sign up before the September 30th deadline.

It is awesome to see Fediverse platforms offer managed hosting solutions for their products, as it allows people & businesses (who lack the time and / or technical skills) to easily setup an instance while at the same time supporting the platform financially (itโ€™s a win-win scenario).

There currently is not an official iPhone/iPad/Android app available, but for now people can use the website to upload their podcasting content.

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

Threads as death in the Fediverse

Image Credit: @davidrevoy@framapiaf.org on Pepper & Carrot

So the Verge has an excellent interview of @zuck@threads.net by @alexheath@threads.net & the first 17 minutes of the interview are worth watching (after that it deviates into other topics).

You can read the transcript on the Verge or watch the video below, but there were a few interesting highlights.

Cultural Foundation For Threads

Meta wants to build out a foundation for Threads based on positivity according to Mark Zuckerberg.

So that's been a big part of how we've tried to emphasize and develop Threads. And, you know, over time, if you want it to be ubiquitous, you obviously want to be welcome to everyone. But I think how you seed the networks and the culture that you create there, I think, ends up being pretty important for how they scale over time.

Where with Facebook, we started with this real name culture, and it was grounded to your college email address. You know, it obviously hasn't been grounded to your college email address for a very long time, but I think the kind of real authentic identity aspect of Facebook has continued and continues to be an important part of it.

So I think how we set the culture for Threads early on in terms of being a more positive, friendly place for discussion will hopefully be one of the defining elements for the next decade as we scale it out. We obviously have a lot of work to do, but I'd say it's off to quite a good start. Obviously, there's the huge spike, and then, you know, not everyone who tried it out originally is going to stick around immediately. But I mean, the monthly active's and weekly's, I don't think we're sharing stats on it yet.

Zuckerberg declined to release official stats for Threads (so rumors of Threads stagnating might be premature), but he seems content with its size thus far as the site is only three months old.

Facebook (& Maybe Instagram) Will Never Fully Embrace The Fediverse

It looks as if my theory that Facebook (& by extension Instagram) would eventually embrace the Fediverse will probably never happen for technical reasons.

I've had our team at various times do the thought experiment of like, โ€œAlright, what would it take to move all of Facebook onto some kind of decentralized protocol?โ€ And it's like, โ€œThat's just not going to happen.โ€ There's so much functionality that is on Facebook that it's way too complicated, and you can't even support all the different things, and it would just take so long, and you'd not be innovating during that time.

I think that there's value in being on one of these protocols, but it's not the only way to deliver value, so the opportunity cost of doing this massive transition is kind of this massive thing. But when you're starting from scratch, you can just design it so it can work with that. And we want to do that with this because I thought that that was one of the interesting things that's evolving around this kind of Twitter competitive space, and there's a real ecosystem around that, and I think it's interesting.

Ironically Threads messaging will be powered by Instagram, but Instagram itself will probably not fully embrace ActivityPub. This probably means platforms like Pixelfed will face no direct competition within the Fediverse from Meta.

Build The Best ActivityPub App (Threads By Meta)

Meta does intend to build the best ActivityPub on Earth & challenge platforms like Minds, Mastodon, & Misskey (the โ€œ3 Mโ€™sโ€) for the Fediverse crown.

Well, I guess my view is that the more that there's interoperability between different services and the more content can flow, the better all the services can be. And I guess I'm just confident enough that we can build the best one of the services, that I actually think that we'll benefit and we'll be able to build better quality products by making sure that we can have access to all of the different content from wherever anyone is creating it.

Threads has the resources to build the best ActivityPub app, but the question is whether they can convince the masses to use their platform over rival services (most of whom are open source).

My prediction: Threads will help bring the Fediverse to the mainstream, but most governments, companies, geeks, celebrities, etcetera, will eventually choose to host their own content on domains or servers that they control.

I do believe Threads will probably reach 100 million active users over the years, but my money is on Automattic will end up dominating the Fediverse in the future via WordPress & Tumblr (fun fact: Tumblr is larger than Threads right now).

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป by Darnell Clayton ๐Ÿ”› @darnell@darnell.day

๐Ÿ•บ๐Ÿพ Follow my adventures upon: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐Ÿ˜ (Mastodon) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐Ÿฆ (Misskey) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@threads.net ๐Ÿงต (Threads)

๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ Other digital havens: ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell@darnell.app ๐Ÿ“ธ (Pixelfed) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnelltv@darnell.tv ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพโ€๐Ÿ’ป (WordPress Main) ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ @darnell.fyi@darnell.fyi ๐Ÿฆน๐Ÿพโ€โ™‚๏ธ (WordPress Minor)

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