Threads adds fediverse content to your social feeds

Over the past year, Meta's Threads team has been steadily building toward deeper integration with the fediverse, a decentralized network of interconnected social platforms like Mastodon and Flipboard. Now, in what marks its most significant step yet, Threads is launching a dedicated feed for fediverse content and adding the ability to search for users across the fediverse directly within the app.

A Separate Feed for a Different Web

Starting today, users who have enabled fediverse sharing in Threads will see a new section at the top of their Following feed. This section links to a standalone reverse-chronological feed that displays posts from accounts users follow on other fediverse platforms. These posts are not algorithmically ranked, moderated under Threads' rules, or interspersed with Threads-native content.

According to Threads software engineer Peter Cottle, the decision to keep this content separate is intentional. “For everything from integrity to user impersonation, just for user understanding, it’s nice to have it as kind of a separate thing,” he says.

The approach reflects a different philosophy around content consumption. Rather than turning fediverse content into another social media algorithm, Threads is treating it more like an RSS-style experience — a straightforward, chronological way to stay updated on publications and authors across the web.

Easier Discovery Across the Decentralized Web

In addition to the new feed, Threads now allows users to search for and follow fediverse users — a major step in making decentralized networks more navigable. One of the long-standing pain points of platforms like Mastodon has been the fragmented structure, where users are spread across many different servers. With Threads offering a kind of universal fediverse search, this challenge could become much easier to manage.

Once followed, these users’ posts will appear in the dedicated fediverse feed, giving Threads users a broader view of the wider social web.

Still Opt-In, Still Early Days

Despite these improvements, Threads' fediverse integration is still opt-in and somewhat siloed. Users must manually enable sharing to the fediverse, and any replies or interactions from federated platforms appear separately from Threads-native engagement.

Meta is proceeding cautiously. As Cottle explains, “There’s still a lot of work to be done educating people on how the fediverse works, and even what it is in the first place.” Threads has prioritized more traditional features like direct messages, spoiler tags, and bio links, while the fediverse rollout continues to evolve at a slower pace.

A Vision for a Federated Future

While there’s debate even within Meta about whether Threads should become a fully open social platform or remain a more curated environment that includes outside content, Cottle emphasizes that the team is committed to the integration.

With these new features, Threads is no longer just dabbling in the fediverse — it’s actively shaping how the next phase of decentralized social media could work. The lines between platforms are beginning to blur, and Meta is positioning Threads not just as another social app, but as a gateway to the broader, open social web.