US President Joe Biden joins fediverse via Instagram Threads
The President of the US, known on social media as @Potus, has broadened his digital presence by joining the fediverse through Instagram Threads. His first federated post was made yesterday, marking a significant endorsement for the fediverse. The post, managed by President Joe Biden's team, championed reproductive freedom and was shared via Threads, Meta's emerging competitor to X.
Fediverse logo recognized on President's post
The President's post was quickly identified by Threads users due to the distinctive fediverse sharing logo, which resembles planets orbiting a star. This symbol represents the interconnected universe that forms the fediverse. The fediverse is expected to play an increasingly significant role in social networking, particularly with Meta's adoption of its underlying ActivityPub protocol.
Understanding the fediverse and its impact
The term 'fediverse' refers to a network of interconnected servers hosting social networks capable of intercommunication. Notable members include Mastodon, an open-source service similar to X, and platforms like PeerTube, Pixelfed, Lemmy, and WriteFreely. Together, these services form a "social web" with approximately 9.9 million total users and around 1.08 million active monthly users.
Threads' role in the fediverse and its limitations
According to Meta's latest earnings report, Threads has more than 130 million monthly active users, making it a potential major node within the fediverse. When Meta introduced Threads as a text-centric competitor to X, it revealed plans "to federate the app so users on Mastodon and other networks could see and respond to posts from Threads' users." However, current limitations prevent Threads users from seeing who replied or liked their posts using other servers, and sharing their posts with polls.
President's posts to get a broader audience
Despite current limitations, the @Potus account has adopted federated sharing. This means that President Biden's posts will have a wider audience as they can be accessed by users who are not on "Threads, X, or other unfederated social apps." This move is a significant step toward ensuring a broader reach for the President's messages.