updates from fediverse and indieweb projects
What Is The Fediverse?
(An easy, human-friendly explanation with zero tech snobbery.)
Imagine social media is like a bunch of coffee shops.
Right now, most of us hang out in one of the big chains—like Facebook Café, Instagram Espresso, or X/Twitter House of Hot Takes. They’re loud, they track everything you order, and they reserve the right to throw you out if you don’t follow their rules—even if you weren’t bothering anyone. Also, every time you walk in, someone’s whispering what you like to your future advertisers.
Now, picture the fediverse as a whole neighborhood of independent coffee shops. Some are big, some tiny, some themed (like a goth cat café or a knitting club anarchists bookshop). But the magic is: they’re all connected.
You can chill in your favorite local spot (say, "PoetTree Café") and still send a message to your friend who likes hanging out at “TechTalk Tavern.” That’s the federation part: different places, different vibes, all able to talk to each other.
🍩 Still With Me? Cool, Let's Dig Deeper:
Each of these coffee shops is run by a server, sometimes called an instance. But you don’t need to host one to join. Most people just sign up at a server that feels right to them—like choosing your starting point in a big open world. You can still walk around and visit everyone else.
Examples of fediverse platforms:
- - Mastodon - like Twitter, but ad free and decentralized.
- - Pixelfed – like Instagram, but ad free and privacy-friendly.
- - Loops - like TikTok, but ad free and not tracking you.
- - PeerTube – like YouTube, but without the surveillance capitalism.
- - WriteFreely – minimalist blogging, no creepy trackers.
All of these run on the same protocol (think of it as a shared language, called ActivityPub), so they can “talk” to each other.
If you’ve heard of Bluesky, it’s similar but uses a different language, the AT Protocol. So it does not “talk” with ActivityPub services.
☕ So, Why Use the Fediverse?
- - No algorithms force-feeding you junk.
- - No ads stalking you.
- - You own your content.
- - You can move your account to another server without losing your followers (imagine doing that on Facebook—lol, nope).
It's built on values like freedom, community, and consent—not manipulation and profit.
🍵 Final Analogy:
Think of the fediverse like email.
You might use Gmail, your friend uses Outlook, someone else has a custom domain—yet you all can email each other.
Same idea here. Just social media, but open and cooperative instead of closed and creepy.