I am actually looking forward to threads taking off. I, as a mastodon user, will be able to follow my friends, celebrities, artists and interact with them when federation is activated. It is hard to get friends on to mastodon. The software is great and is better than Twitter, but the people are not on Mastodon but on Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Now, I know platforms by Meta (Facebook) are terrible and spy and leech out pretty much all the data from users. I am also aware that Meta has some hidden agenda behind the launch of threads. Yes, I also read about EEE(Embrace, Extend and Extinguish). Even if Threads decides to drop federation/activitypub, I don’t think the fediverse will be harmed. I quote the founder of Mastodon
There are comparisons to be made between Meta adopting ActivityPub for its new social media platform and Meta adopting XMPP for its Messenger service a decade ago. There was a time when users of Facebook and users of Google Talk were able to chat with each other and with people from self-hosted XMPP servers, before each platform was locked down into the silos we know today. What would stop that from repeating? Well, even if Threads abandoned ActivityPub down the line, where we would end up is exactly where we are now. XMPP did not exist on its own outside of nerd circles, while ActivityPub enjoys the support and brand recognition of Mastodon.
I think many instance admins are all ready to defederate with threads. It just doesn’t feel right. Imo, we should welcome users from threads and see how it goes.
What are your thoughts?
I honestly agree, I feel so annoyed that on a platform designed from the ground up to enable communication whatever platform we’re on, people are taking the first opportunity to cripple its growth because they hate a company.
You can get whatever data is available from federation with a server just by joining a server - the data they want is from installing their app on your phone.
if you stay federated with them you can get all their content for free without installing their spyware.
complete win.
I don’t think any fediverse user is concerned about their data being taken. The concern comes from the obvious threat of embrace-extend-extinguish.
Meta’s intent is irrelevant; EEE is basically a given of a large corporation because it helps maximise profit.
https://ploum.net/2023-06-23-how-to-kill-decentralised-networks.html
this makes a lot more sense. I’ll read the link, thank you
edit: yeah, that’s a bigger risk. I’m a bit more torn… I’m frustrated, the promise of an open protocol is having access to the content without signing up to mainstream services. I would really love that and it’s what the protocol was designed for. cutting ourselves off feels like it’s just going to doom the whole idea to being underused and fringe.
do you think xmpp would have done far better without google?
It definitely would have done better. It not necessarily would be the current big thing, but would have way more usage and versatility now.
If I wanted FB content, I’d join FB. Same goes for Twitter, IG, Tiktok, etc. Do people really think Meta is out to kill Twitter? I think it’s more to use ActivityPub to get data from people who do not use (or rarely use) their services.
And no, they don’t need you to install their app. That’s just a bonus. Why do you think they haven’t included the EU yet?
but… the whole point of the protocol is to allow interoperability? someone went out and worked so hard on an open protocol and your response is that you’d rather just have a different account on every service? way to trash their work.
I believe they aren’t releasing in EU because EU has stronger privacy legislation and their application spys on you.
and yes, there is a huge difference between what they get through the protocol (literally only what you choose to make public) and the data they seek to harvest from having you log into their servers and install their app - actually that’s another big one. browser tracking.
I don’t want to log into their sites because of browser fingerprinting. they want to track everything we do online.
remember when the person who started WhatsApp said that even with e2e encryption on the messages, no one should ever use WhatsApp since meta bought it?
but if you log into a Lemmy server they don’t get browser fingerprinting through activity pub. they can’t see personal messages or track social networks outside of the users directly on their service.
and the opportunity is, people will be exposed to the possibility of using open source and private instances. we just have to make it good and they’ll switch. more and more people are hearing about it with all the other social media fuckups.
You can give all your data to meta, thats your prerogative. And you are ignoring what has happened historically when “open protocols” are engaged with my huge corporations.