fediverse

The many branches of the Fediverse

As more and more people are asking me about Mastodon I felt a need for a picture to point at, showcasing how the software known as Mastodon fits into the much larger concept of the Fediverse. I made this visualisation to help myself and others explain the many different use-cases and benefits of different services that can exchange information.

I am well aware this still doesn't cover all available tools, and ActivityPub isn't the only protocol. The image is a simplification, as most models are. Given that new tools can be made available regularly it would be an insurmountable task to pursue a complete mapping. Hopefully this visual is enough to illustrate the amazing variety of services within the Fediverse, and will spark curiosity to explore further.

You can download the diagram in PNG format or as a PDF.

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Federated? What does that mean?

Fediverse is shorthand for federated universe. But what does federated really mean in this context? It's important to remember that the vast majority of applications in my picture can be installed thousands of times over and each of these instances, or servers, be of many different sizes. Each of these have their own rules and ownership, and make up their own corner of the Fediverse. I am fond of these explanations provided by Bonfire:

• A federated social network is a system that is decentralised, developed and operated by distinct providers (something like email but for social networks). It consists of multiple social apps and websites, where users of each site can communicate with users of any of the other compatible sites.
• An application or website participating in a federated social network is interoperable with the other sites (known as instances) and federates (fetching and especially pushing data) with them based on their users interactions. Communication among the social websites is conducted through social networking protocols, like ActivityPub.
• Advantages of a federated network:
  • Robust and resilient
  • Scales horizontally
  • Private data stays on each user’s home instance
  • Each instance is responsible for its content (moderation of discussions, etc)
  • Standards-based but also extensible

Links to Fediverse software and services

Here is a complete list of the tools mentioned in the visual. The odd one out is perhaps micro.blog as it federates with the network, but is itself not offered as open source software (some of the mobile apps are). Using it for micro-blogging also costs money. It is mentioned here to indicate that commercial software can also hook up to the Fediverse.

You can read more about the Fediverse on Wikipedia and about the ActivityPub protocol on the W3C website.

Further reading

My previous posts explaining Mastodon, both with links to even more learning resources.

Follow

Interested in following me in the Fediverse? Your best bet is to copy and paste my username into the search box on your home instance/server:

@[email protected]

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