this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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"Tags work a little differently than hashtags do on platforms like Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). When composing a Threads post, you start a tag by tapping the # symbol and then typing out your topic. But instead of being limited to just one word, you can type out a whole phrase (with spaces!) and add special characters, according to Mosseri. However, you can only make one tag per post."

I wonder how the tags will work if they federate with ActivityPub.

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[–] key@lemmy.keychat.org 32 points 11 months ago

Those aren't hashtags, those aren't even tags. That's a freeform category system. What's old is new again.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

They're allowing hashtags to have multiple words in order to make them uncompatible with both Xitter and Mastodon...

[–] 0x1C3B00DA@kbin.social 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That wouldn't make them incompatible with the fediverse. ActivityPub can support tags with spaces, even though no current fediverse platform allows it. A post with a hashtag with spaces would still federate to other services and if that services is robust enough, should still be linked up so that you can click it to see the tag feed.

[–] thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

PeerTube allows spaces in its tags, they get stripped out at one end or the other when a video federates to Mastodon to make them compatible.

[–] sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf 12 points 11 months ago (3 children)

So they forked mastodon and gutted the features and are now reimplementing them in a way that's fundamentally incompatible with upstream? Sounds a lot like something Silicon Valley would do.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Threads does not appear to be a fork of Mastodon or anything else.

It also doesn't federate yet and I'm not convinced it's actually going to, so I think posts about it might be off-topic for a community about the Fediverse.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 8 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I also think the federation promise was just all smoke and mirrors to let the European Union allow them to publish the app.

I don't think we will ever see proper federation on Threads, even though I'd surely like it.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I think it was probably as much to compete with Bluesky, which also says it will have federation (with its own protocol) Soon^tm^ as anything.

If Bluesky actually starts federating, I think there's a good chance Threads will.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Threads, however, has explicitly promised Mastodon integration, so it won't use a proprietary protocol.

[–] SamXavia@kbin.run 1 points 11 months ago

What is really good for everyone already using the Fediverse as it doesn't mean as much work when it comes to bringing Threads & Mastodon compatibility. The multi-word tags are a cool feature but will have to looked at once Federated.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

really love bluesky i just hold they either do both protocols or make an activitypub bridge. i think that all the alternative networks working together is the best way to prevent post twitter special network splintering

[–] SamXavia@kbin.run 1 points 11 months ago

I'm sure if Bluesky doesn't create something the Fediverse will have someone create a bridge protocol opensource to allow for easy integration into these systems.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

For the EU the abilities to read posts without an account and delete a Threads account independently of the IG one was enough. Federation had nothing to do with it. Threads would not be able to launch without federation, had this been a mandate.

[–] clgoh@lemmy.ca 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Zuckerberg just posted this on Threads. Federation seems to be coming relatively soon.

Starting a test where posts from Threads accounts will be available on Mastodon and other services that use the ActivityPub protocol. Making Threads interoperable will give people more choice over how they interact and it will help content reach more people. I'm pretty optimistic about this.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 1 points 11 months ago

It's to good to be true, there's going to be a trick for sure

[–] SamXavia@kbin.run 1 points 11 months ago

As they haven't said they aren't coming to the Fediverse and if anything say they are still looking to Federate it's still on-topic as of the moment but yes it feels like they are kicking the can down the road or have lost it completely and just don't want to tell anyone yet.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Truth Social is a Mastodon fork.

Threads is just Instagram with text posts and a different representation of replies.

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 1 points 11 months ago

Google and XMPP history is repeating.

[–] masimatutu@nerdica.net 7 points 11 months ago

@clgoh They haven't even embraced yet and they're extending already. Nice.

[–] Pxtl@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Tags are a workaround for bad search systems. They've been a solution looking for a problem since platforms started getting better at search.

Imho, Mastodon should be using hashtags like subreddits/lemmy-communities (they have moderators who can control what gets posted under that hashtag) then they'd have a real reason to exist on that platform now that they've got proper search, especially since a F/OSS platform like Mastodon has difficulty with moderating.

[–] kpw@kbin.social 5 points 11 months ago

I use hashtags on Mastodon all the time. They're definitely useful and easier than subcommunities.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Tags — basically hashtags with a twist — are now rolling out globally on Threads, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced on Thursday.

Tags work a little differently than hashtags do on platforms like Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).

When composing a Threads post, you start a tag by tapping the # symbol and then typing out your topic.

“If you share on Threads, [tags are] a great way to help connect with people who are interested in the topics you’re talking about,” Mosseri says.

I like Meta’s implementation here, even the single-tag limit, as it seems like a smart way to prevent annoying hashtag spam.

That said, we’ll have to wait and see if users actually adopt the tags so that they can become a useful way to find conversations about a topic.


The original article contains 222 words, the summary contains 133 words. Saved 40%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] SgtAStrawberry@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So the Tumblr tags will finally reach their true form.

[–] SamXavia@kbin.run 1 points 11 months ago

I've never really used Tumblr but it does sound like a cool fix, hope other Fediverse platform may consider it in the future.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

as a tumblr user for about ten years now i wish more socials did multi word tags

also i really hope threads does activitypub soon. i love threads but i little too be able to combine socials and follow the more mainstream people on threads as well as the people i follow on mastodon

[–] SamXavia@kbin.run 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah I really do hope they focus on federate in the near future as well as it will allow a wider audience of people to join the Fediverse without having to explain it. Knowing they are still working on the platform is at least a slight positive to them wanting to make it a go to platform for people.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Unless there's bigger news you've not mentioned, this has nothing to do with the fediverse.

[–] Chozo@kbin.social 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Threads is planning to federate, so it adopting more Fediverse-compatible features is relevant.

[–] johntash@eviltoast.org 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

But this doesn't look like it will be compatible with current ActivityPub, right?

[–] Chozo@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

I don't see why not. Mastodon could just translate multi-word hashtags into underscored hashtags. There's already some unsupported features from forks like Firefish that get translated, like emote-reactions register on Mastodon as favorites, etc.

[–] 0x1C3B00DA@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

ActivityPub can support tags with spaces, even though no fediverse platform allows you to write tags like that. The name of the tag can be pretty much whatever you want, as long as it has a valid URL.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 11 months ago

calckey can do multi word tags too