Updated 07-Oct-2024
The Fediverse is a disparate set of social media services across many implementations, with two core elements:
- They use open protocols to communicate across services and instances, creating a federation of users and uses.
- They are primarily distributed and decentralized.
This decentralization (and federation) is not in the sense of a blockchain with multiple copies of a single ledger, but with single copies of single ledgers (locally owned and managed), all communicating together.
The main applications are the standard social media options:
- Chat/calls/video conferencing (aka Telegram) - Element + Matrix
- Texting (aka Twitter) - Mastodon
- Macro blogging (aka Facebook) - Not really interested in this so much, but Friendi.ca is the closest
- Video sharing (aka YouTube) - PeerTube
- Code sharing (aka Github) - Git SSB = (Gogs + Scuttlebutt)
File sharing (aka Dropbox) - IPFS and Filecoin
Essentially there are projects (large and small) tackling each of these areas of social media and communication.
Decentralized protocols
The main protocols used in distributed chat / social applications include:
- ActivityPub (Mastodon as the most popular app), which can be integrated with WordPress
- Matrix (Element as the most popular app)
- AT (used by Bluesky)
- Scuttlebutt (SSB)
- RSS
BlueSky, a Twitter spinout is developing another protocol as it finds these wanting. There is a lot of interest in what they are developing, but there is nothing concrete to play with, beyond a protocol document.
Update Oct 2024
- Bluesky is getting some traction (and I have an account there I am occasionally using.
- Mastodon is solid for me, though losing popularity over time (still, 1m MAU is not bad, and these tend to be the smarter of social media folks).
- I prefer Mastodon over Bluesky, which is basically due to the interface where Bluesky resembles Twitter and Mastodon resembles TweetDeck (multiple columns)
- The problem with Bluesky is that it doesn't use ActivityPub but instead the AT protocol (which only it is using) locking it out of the ability to use other ActivityPub services such as guppe or groups on Friendica.
- The solution to Facebook groups does look best to be Friendica with ActivityPub subscribers, which also has privacy (which guppe does not). Still, Friendica slowly dying in terms of user base is concerning.
- To follow Twitter and / or Instagram users with ActivityPub, there is a great option: Bird Makeup