Answering ARMY's Question: What is the Fediverse & How Do We Get Involved?

Saskia

12 Jul 2024 • 4 min read

Since my last blog took off, thanks to BTS' ARMY, this one's for you and for anyone else curious about this Fediverse/Social Web/social-media-in-an-interconnected-network thing.

If you missed it, I ended my last blog with an introduction to the Fediverse for ARMY new to Bluesky. Since then, the number of ARMY has grown on Bluesky and shown the community there the best side of fandom. Respectful, curious, and fun people using social media to discuss something they love without pulling apart the existing ecosystem.

In part, this includes ARMY's response to my blog, always respectful and curious - leading to many questions. The main one:

"What is the Fediverse and how do we get involved?"

So, here's my attempt at answering:

The Fediverse is not a concrete term

It's hard to discuss something which doesn't really have universally used name, much to Shakespeare's disdain. But, by any other name, the Fediverse would smell just as sweet.

On paper, the Fediverse is a collection of servers and/or social platforms built on this thing called the ActivityPub Protocol. This Protocol lets posts and content from different places move freely among the servers which implement it.

This means Mastodon, Lemmy, Pixelfed, Flipboard etc are all on the Fediverse because they're all built on (or have moved to) the ActivityPub Protocol. There are hundreds of apps that display ActivityPub Protocol social content in different ways so it's pretty likely there will be one out there that works for you.

But the Fediverse is also a very limiting term and used to describe things which aren't actually a part of it. For example, Bluesky, isn't a part of it.

So, what is Bluesky a part of?

Bluesky is built on AT Protocol. It's similar, but not the same. That's why when you connect your Bluesky account to the 'Fediverse' you have to use a bridge (shout out to @snarfed.org who built the bridge).

That's why a better term for this network of interconnected social platforms is the Social Web.

The Social Web is not only an easier term to digest, but it encomapsses more things.

The Social Web is the network of open social platforms. That's everything that can talk to each other, including Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, Flipboard, Nostr, WordPress, Ghost etc. There's a lot!

Many people regard this as the future of the social internet.

Why is it the next big thing?

It depends on who you ask, but overall I think as a society we're just fed up of having to set up a new presence everytime a new social platform is released by another person looking to make a load of money - before everyone moves on again.

That's what started this, a group of rebels and hackers who were just fed up with Big Tech (that's what we call companies like Meta who rule the market) taking advantage of them and advantage of their data.

There is an overwhelming feeling that social media isn't all that social anymore.

The Social Web is the answer to this. It's a place where you can talk to people even if they prefer the UI of Mastodon to Bluesky, you can choose which doorway you use to enter it!

If you don't like the place you chose, or just want something new, you won't have to stick with it. Eventually the Social Web will be a place where you can move around without losing all your friends, followers, and posts. On parts of the Fediverse (like Mastodon), this is already true - you can move servers without losing any of your followers in the process.

How do we grow it?

By taking part and encouraging others. Everyday the Social Web grows as more and more people connect to it.

For example, all the ARMY who have moved to Bluesky have already taken the first step into the Social Web (I'm not sure why you all moved, but it's great to see you turning away from Big Tech). Those who have bridged their account by following @ap.brid.gy on Bluesky are going a step further, they've bridged to the Social Web (thank you, by the way!) and kicked down the walls of traditional social media.

Big Tech, interestingly, are onboard with it too (which has created a LOT of divide with the original Fediverse-rs).

Threads (Meta's answer to Twitter) was always meant to have the Social Web at its core. Sadly, in the rush to get Threads out and capitalise on Twitter's problems, this was pushed into the background a little. But 'Fediverse Sharing' (not the best setting name) is now an option for Threads users in 100+ countries in a show of commitment to the Fediverse.

Would this be better if it was opt-out instead of opt-in? 100% But the team at Threads (surprisingly) want to be respectful as they roll out this BETA feature. Whilst it's understandable to choose where your content goes, by making this feature opt-in we've missed a huge opportunity for growing the wider Social Web.

Supporting nonprofits in the sector

It'd be wrong of me to post this blog without mentioning the work done by a lot of individuals, as well as organisations, to grow this space.

The Newsmast Foundation, the organisation I work for, is working across multiple social platforms, as well as behind the scenes networking, to try and bring more support to the Social Web. Some of the cool people who work there are also writing fun blogs like this one!

But, it's not just us. There are a handful of people who have made it their mission to work on recruiting people to the Social Web, asking big accounts to start connecting to the Social Web on Threads & Bluesky, whilst building initiatives and structures which will support the Social Web into the future. Almost everyone does it with little to no funding.

Once we begin to raise awareness for this idea of an open, democratic, Social Web, big names and funding will start coming. That's the first step.

Realistically, we know people are scared of change. Especially if all the questions haven't been answered yet.

We've grown complacent, letting Big Tech tells us what the next social media craze will be, we need to opt-in to taking action ourselves.

What next?

So, ARMY and anyone else reading this, if you can please opt-in. Follow the bridge. Talk about the Social Web and what it could mean for the future of social media, fandom, sport, finding cool academics, whatever you use social media for.

This will be the future of social media, the quicker we move to it the more democratic online society will become (and we get to laugh at certain billionaires who buy platforms to ruin them).