Third-party app support on Threads could one day become a reality. Instagram’s boss has just stated that a third-party API “seems like something we need to get done.
Third-Party App Support on Threads
Adam Mosseri Instagram boss has stated in a reply on Threads the previous night that his team is reportedly working on an API for Threads, despite major concern that it would in question help publishers to push content more than it would creators. TechCrunch reportedly spotted his reply in a thread in which Casey Newton of Platformer told another user that the lack of a developer API is the reason why Threads has no TweetDeck equivalent.
And if the API is vast enough, it could open the platform up to new ideas, which will be expressed via third-party apps as well as web experiences, about just how to actually interact with Threads or get to view its content. It could also just add features that the social media platform Threads is missing right about now, such as lists or the ability to follow up with specific topics.
Other Social Media Platforms to Make Changes to Their API Policies
Big social media platforms such as X, formerly known as Twitter, and Reddit have reportedly made changes to their API policies that third-party developers have found to be hostile, thus forcing apps to shut down or get to decouple from the platforms. Some have even moved on to make clients for other platforms and for example, the makers of Tweetbot reportedly created Ivory for Mastodon. But Threads on the other hand, with its close to 100 million monthly active users, is a particularly green pasture in contrast to Mastodon, Bluesky, as well as all the other X alternatives that have come along the way just recently.
How Will Threads Tackle Integration with the Open Social Media Protocol ActivityPub
Besides whether and just how Threads might get to introduce an API, it is still an open question as to whether and how the platform will reportedly tackle integration with the open social media protocol ActivityPub. Mosseri has however committed to tying Threads to the open social media protocol openly l.
It has even made a very small step in that very direction, thus making it possible to verify your Threads profile in the so-called fediverse. If it really begins supporting ActivityPub, then you just could start seeing Threads posts in a fediverse feed that is also inclusive of posts from Mastodon, Reddit alternative Lemmy, as well as any other platform that reportedly runs on the protocol.
We have now reached out to Meta to find out if the company has anything more to say regarding the possibilities for an API, and haven’t gotten a response just yet.
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