Fediverse
The Fediverse is a giant Network of social media platforms.
There are platforms for microblogging, blogging, photoblogging, videohosting and much more and they are all interconnected or federated.
So you only need one account to follow users on any of the platforms.
Imagine
Imagine Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Co were all part of one giant network. That's basically what the Fediverse is, except the parts are less well known, free software & federated replacements to those.
In the Fediverse you can use your "Twitter" account to interact with "Facebook" users, share "Instagram" posts, comment under "Youtube" videos, listen to "Bandcamp" music, follow "Blogger" blogs, take part in "Reddit" discussions and more.
How does it compare to traditional social media?
The Fediverse and its projects, lets you make your own social media part of a bigger network.
It has many advantages over traditional social media like Twitter and Instagram. Due to its decentralized nature it's possible to create circles of more tiny social media with users to hang out with. Having your own, so called, instance lets you make your own rules. Most instance owners maintain an instance with their own money for the sake of having their own platform and not for making money by serving ads as an example.
The Fediverse innovates on what has worked before and adds many new features. A commonly supported feature is custom emojis, similarly to Discord, it lets administrators add their own (even animated) emoji. The Fediverse also lets you decide who gets to see your posts, with so called scopes, you can decide whether only the users you mention, your followers or the public gets to see them.
Terminology
- Your account or identity has a unique address called handle and is hosted on one of the many servers, also called instances.
- An instance is basically a small social network hosted on one server. Each instance can have it's own set of rules as for what content is allowed. You can also host your own instance. Each instance runs one software.
- The software used on an instance is essential for the user experience and possibilities.
- Many software projects use the same protocol which enables instances to communicate with each other. Most software projects use Activity Pub. Some projects might not have full federation with other pojects yet.
- The Fediverse (federated universe) is the sum of all accounts, on all instances using any software, communicating with any protocol.
To be exact the Fediverse doesn't even include just social media projects. Any software that federates using one of the protocols is part of the Fediverse. - @PaulaToThePeople@ClimateJustice.social is an example for a handle. ClimateJustice.social is the instance the account is on. The software it uses is Mastodon. Thanks to the ActivityPub protocol it can follow accounts on other instances that use e.g. Mastodon, GNU Social or Pixelfed software.
How do I get an account?
Main article: How do I get an account?
If you just want to get to know the Fediverse experience you can start by creating a profile on mastodon.social or mastodon.online.
You can later move instances or create accounts on different instances and projects.
For more info on finding the right instance and creating an account click the link above.
Further Reading
What are Fediverse projects?
What people usually tell you about the Fediverse
Getting started with your Fediverse account
Mobile apps
Best practices
Fediverse - the advanced page on the Fediverse
External Links
Main article: Fediverse weblinks
Fediverse Town The forum for questions about the Fediverse
Fediverse Guides
The Fediverse: the distributed social network
Guide to the Fediverse
DE: Fediverse – So geht gutes Social Media
DE: Das Fediverse