diff --git a/classes/Conversation.php b/classes/Conversation.php
index 1dba2c1f4a..d18321deba 100644
--- a/classes/Conversation.php
+++ b/classes/Conversation.php
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class Conversation extends Managed_DataObject
     public $__table = 'conversation';        // table name
     public $id;                              // int(4)  primary_key not_null auto_increment
     public $uri;                             // varchar(191)  unique_key   not 255 because utf8mb4 takes more space
+    public $url;                             // varchar(191)  unique_key   not 255 because utf8mb4 takes more space
     public $created;                         // datetime   not_null
     public $modified;                        // timestamp   not_null default_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
 
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ class Conversation extends Managed_DataObject
             'fields' => array(
                 'id' => array('type' => 'serial', 'not null' => true, 'description' => 'Unique identifier, (again) unrelated to notice id since 2016-01-06'),
                 'uri' => array('type' => 'varchar', 'not null'=>true, 'length' => 191, 'description' => 'URI of the conversation'),
+                'url' => array('type' => 'varchar', 'length' => 191, 'description' => 'Resolvable URL, preferrably remote (local can be generated on the fly)'),
                 'created' => array('type' => 'datetime', 'not null' => true, 'description' => 'date this record was created'),
                 'modified' => array('type' => 'timestamp', 'not null' => true, 'description' => 'date this record was modified'),
             ),
@@ -89,15 +91,21 @@ class Conversation extends Managed_DataObject
      *
      * @return Conversation the new conversation DO
      */
-    static function create($uri=null, $created=null)
+    static function create(ActivityContext $ctx=null, $created=null)
     {
         // Be aware that the Notice does not have an id yet since it's not inserted!
         $conv = new Conversation();
         $conv->created = $created ?: common_sql_now();
-        $conv->uri = $uri ?: sprintf('%s%s=%s:%s=%s',
+        if ($ctx instanceof ActivityContext) {
+            $conv->uri = $ctx->conversation;
+            $conv->url = $ctx->conversation_url;
+        } else {
+            $conv->uri = sprintf('%s%s=%s:%s=%s',
                              TagURI::mint(),
                              'objectType', 'thread',
                              'nonce', common_random_hexstr(8));
+            $conv->url = null;  // locally generated Conversation objects don't get static URLs stored
+        }
         // This insert throws exceptions on failure
         $conv->insert();
 
diff --git a/classes/Notice.php b/classes/Notice.php
index d5a0e5f6d2..bfe9f1c7f6 100644
--- a/classes/Notice.php
+++ b/classes/Notice.php
@@ -624,8 +624,13 @@ class Notice extends Managed_DataObject
                 } else {
                     // Conversation entry with specified URI was not found, so we must create it.
                     common_debug('Conversation URI not found, so we will create it with the URI given in the options to Notice::saveNew: '.$options['conversation']);
+                    $convctx = new ActivityContext();
+                    $convctx->conversation = $options['conversation'];
+                    if (array_key_exists('conversation_url', $options)) {
+                        $convctx->conversation_url = $options['conversation_url'];
+                    }
                     // The insert in Conversation::create throws exception on failure
-                    $conv = Conversation::create($options['conversation'], $notice->created);
+                    $conv = Conversation::create($convctx, $notice->created);
                 }
                 $notice->conversation = $conv->getID();
                 unset($conv);
@@ -921,7 +926,7 @@ class Notice extends Managed_DataObject
                     // Conversation entry with specified URI was not found, so we must create it.
                     common_debug('Conversation URI not found, so we will create it with the URI given in the context of the activity: '.$act->context->conversation);
                     // The insert in Conversation::create throws exception on failure
-                    $conv = Conversation::create($act->context->conversation, $stored->created);
+                    $conv = Conversation::create($act->context, $stored->created);
                 }
                 $stored->conversation = $conv->getID();
                 unset($conv);
@@ -2008,6 +2013,7 @@ class Notice extends Managed_DataObject
                 $conv = Conversation::getKV('id', $this->conversation);
                 if ($conv instanceof Conversation) {
                     $ctx->conversation = $conv->uri;
+                    $ctx->conversation_url = $conv->url;
                 }
             }
 
diff --git a/lib/activitycontext.php b/lib/activitycontext.php
index 32f15c1e9f..68ee08a8fb 100644
--- a/lib/activitycontext.php
+++ b/lib/activitycontext.php
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ class ActivityContext
     public $location;
     public $attention = array();    // 'uri' => 'type'
     public $conversation;
+    public $conversation_url;
     public $scope;
 
     const THR     = 'http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0';
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ class ActivityContext
 
     // OStatus element names with prefixes
     const OBJECTTYPE = 'ostatus:object-type';   // FIXME: Undocumented!
-    const CONVERSATION = 'ostatus:conversation';
+    const CONVERSATION = 'conversation';
 
     const POINT     = 'point';
 
@@ -74,13 +75,22 @@ class ActivityContext
 
         $this->location = $this->getLocation($element);
 
-        $convs = $element->getElementsByTagNameNS(self::OSTATUS, self::CONVERSATION);
-        foreach ($convs as $conv) {
-            $this->conversation = $conv->textContent;
+        foreach ($element->getElementsByTagNameNS(self::OSTATUS, self::CONVERSATION) as $conv) {
+            if ($conv->hasAttribute('ref')) {
+                $this->conversation = $conv->getAttribute('ref');
+                if ($conv->hasAttribute('href')) {
+                    $this->conversation_url = $conv->getAttribute('href');
+                }
+            } else {
+                $this->conversation = $conv->textContent;
+            }
+            if (!empty($this->conversation)) {
+                break;
+            }
         }
         if (empty($this->conversation)) {
             // fallback to the atom:link rel="ostatus:conversation" element
-            $this->conversation = ActivityUtils::getLink($element, self::CONVERSATION);
+            $this->conversation = ActivityUtils::getLink($element, 'ostatus:'.self::CONVERSATION);
         }
 
         // Multiple attention links allowed
@@ -148,6 +158,7 @@ class ActivityContext
 
         $context['inReplyTo']    = $this->getInReplyToArray();
         $context['conversation'] = $this->conversation;
+        $context['conversation_url'] = $this->conversation_url;
 
         return array_filter($context);
     }