Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Enters Fediverse With Threads App. Know What It Is

Mark Zuckerberg is shifting his focus to a different digital realm following the setbacks of his metaverse ambitions. The new realm he’s supporting is called the ‘Fediverse’. Zuckerberg recently made his debut post in the ‘Fediverse’ on Thursday. If you’re unfamiliar with this term, you’re not alone. The fediverse is a relatively new concept in social networking, and Threads emerged as its largest member this week. Millions of Threads users will soon have the option to participate and “federate” their posts within this platform.

The Meta CEO on Thursday said, “First post in the Fediverse. We’re making progress integrating Threads into the Fediverse and launching a beta in a few countries that lets people choose to federate their posts. If you see this and turn it on from your profile, you’ll see likes from federated platforms appear on your posts here.”

What Is Fediverse?

Meta in a blogpost explained Fediverse as, “One way to think about the Fediverse is to compare it to email. You can send an email from a Gmail account to a Yahoo account, for example, because those services support the same protocols.”

The post added, “Similarly, in the Fediverse you can connect with people who use different social networking services that are built on the same protocol, removing the silos that confine people and their followers to any single platform. But unlike email, your Fediverse conversations and profile are public and can be shared across servers.”

According to its website, the Fediverse comprises only 13 million accounts within its network, Gizmodo reported. Originating in the early 2000s, it emerged to tackle the highly segmented social media environment. Characterised as a decentralised social networking protocol, its primary objective is to foster greater connectivity across the internet.

Why Zuckerberg Is Shifting Towards Fediverse?

Zuckerberg’s app has many more users than this small network. Then why is he trying to shift the focus? One of the possible theories is that he might be trying to strengthen a network of apps which would have the potential to oppose Elon Musk’s X, which is unlikely to join the Fediverse.

Another theory is that he might also be using the Fediverse to get more likes and eyes on Threads posts, which it hasn’t been able to do as compared to other Meta platforms.