Mark Zuckerberg has the heart of an artichoke. After the metaverse, he developed a passion for the “fediverse”: his new social network Threads will gradually integrate into this sphere. A fad that deserves attention because it represents a 180-degree turnaround for the Meta group. While the social network Facebook has always operated in a vacuum, the “fediverse” is in fact constructed in a diametrically opposed way.
The idea is that the user of network A can interact with that of network B without registering with the latter. Hence the name “fediverse”, a contraction of the expression “universe federation”. This requires agreeing on common technical standards. But behind it, the benefits are vast: users of a network can easily communicate and consult what is published on competing platforms.
In today’s digital landscape, the concept seems crazy modern. However, it is not new. The idea of interoperability has governed the construction of the Internet and has incredibly accelerated its development. It is thanks to this, for example, that Gmail users can communicate with those of Outlook or Yahoo without this posing the slightest problem. In the 2010s and 2020s, however, platforms like Facebook, Twitter and then TikTok gained such popularity that they were able to impose their closed models. Their golden age is coming to an end. Through scandals, users are becoming increasingly aware of the extent to which the large closed networks and their free, advertising-backed model are not built for them, but for advertisers. The growing interest in open alternative networks like BlueSky (launched by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey) or Mastodon proves it: Internet users are hungry for new models. Meta understood that he had to change his mind if he didn’t want to end up in the nerdy club.
This is not the group’s only about-face on its fundamentals. While Meta had jealously kept the algorithms of Facebook or Instagram secret, it has, against all odds, become the spearhead of the open source movement in artificial intelligence which advocates the sharing of everyone’s developments in the name of transparency and collective progress. If open source AI has flourished in an incredible way in 2023, it is in fact largely thanks to Meta which made public its large Llama 2 language model. Yann LeCun, director of AI research for the group, is also became one of the most active and influential spokespersons for this movement.
This about-face strategy is paying off. In 2022, Meta’s image was damaged. Facebook was having more and more difficulty retaining younger Internet users. The Cambridge Analytica affair and then the revelations of Frances Haugen had left their mark. And the repolining operation around the metaverse was not enough to restore the group to its former aura. The bet on immersive universes was not stupid, but its effects will not be palpable for a long time.
Meta’s strategy in 2023 is much smarter and has brought the group back into the spirit of the times. It works all the better since the takeover of Twitter/X by Elon Musk, which initially raised a lot of hope, is now a source of disappointment. Barely three days after its arrival in Europe in mid-December, Threads, Meta’s new social network which aims to be a direct competitor, has recorded more than 2.6 million downloads in the area. Even if the wrestling match between Zuckerberg and Musk did not take place, the creator of Facebook still damaged the opponent.