Yet another question people are asking me: "How can I, a common person, help hasten the demise of #Meta through #ActivityPub?"
Again, I want to re-emphasize this. #Fediblock is not an all-purpose tool. It's useful as a hammer. But in this scenario, we don't just need a hammer. We need drills, pliers, saws, and blowtorches.
That said, we must protect communities that choose to defederate from Meta. Which means that if those servers don't want to receive messages from any Meta-owned services, we must not only be respectful of that, we should make damn sure that those servers are quarantined from Meta. So much of the success of fighting Meta will require safe spaces from Meta.
The next thing we need is lots and lots of nodes. Currently, we only have ~25,000 nodes on the Fediverse but we need more. Preferably, these nodes should be small, agile, and well-moderated. If you have the finances and/or skill to run a node, it's important that you do so. To compete with Meta, we need to build scale -- and the easiest way to build scale is by adding more nodes to the Fediverse.
What will also be key is lobby servers. These will be servers specifically set up for migrants from Meta-owned services to help onboard them towards the rest of the Fediverse. To run such a lobby server, they need to be welcoming, moderated well, and free of the elitists and gatekeepers that poison so much of the Fediverse currently.
How to get people from Meta to try out the rest of the Fediverse? We need people willing to be ambassadors on #P92 who are ready and willing to evangelize the rest of the Fediverse. Folks like @tchambers are very good at this on Twitter, and I have no doubt that we can do the same with P92. Except this time we'll have the benefit of federation already happening 😉
Now if there's one thing I've learned about the growth of the Fediverse it's that bad corporate decisions pay dividends. We've already experienced waves of migration from Tumblr, Twitter, and Reddit. And I have no doubt that it's only a matter of time before Meta makes another corporate mistake -- as they tend to do.
In which case, we need to strike fast. When another Cambridge Analytica happens, we need to remind everyone on Meta about the lobby servers that are on standby, and ready to take them on. Unlike previous migrations, let's not be unprepared for this. Let's be especially prepared since Meta plans to join the Fediverse.
Finally, we need more devs. Specifically, we need devs willing to build innovative server and client software that takes aim at Meta. And to do that, we need to support the devs that currently exist -- show evergreen devs pondering whether they should invest here that we, as a community, are appreciative of our current devs.
If you like #Mastodon, #Calckey, #Kbin, #Friendica, etc., it's important that you open up your hearts as well as your wallets and fund the next stage of Fediverse development.
This will take a lot of work. But if you want to fight Meta, challenge their dominance of social media, this is what must be done.
Personally, I'm hyped about the future of the Fediverse -- regardless of whether Meta eventually lives to tell the tale.
I’m happy to see Threads starting to federate with Mastodon and other ActivityPub networks!
Open standards are good, and honestly, I have a ton of friends already on Instagram and Threads that would never join yet another social network, but I’d still love to keep up with them and their lives without having to use Threads. Federating via ActivityPub enables exactly that.
With Meta beginning to test federation, there's a lot of discussion as to whether we should preemptively defederate with Threads. I made a post about the question, and it seems that opinions differ a lot among people on Kbin. There were a lot of arguments for and against regarding ads, privacy, and content quality, but I don't...
It is an existential threat to the very core of Meta’s social media monopoly. Surprisingly, if the goal is to fight against Meta’s hegemony, the most effective strategy may be to federate with them.
“But Chris,” some of you might state, “Even you agree that it might be better to defederate Meta – and you’ve even set up notmeta.social for expressly this purpose.”
Yes, because it’s not everyone’s objective to fight Meta, and there should be spaces where fighting Meta isn’t top of mind. Not everyone wants to be part and parcel of a fight, and that’s okay.
Let’s first acknowledge the technology through which federation happens. #ActivityPub is an open standard protocol that enables the decentralized social networking that powers the Fediverse. It allows different social media platforms (#Mastodon, #Calckey, #Kbin, etc.) to interoperate, meaning that users on one platform can communicate with users on another platform. Federation is the process by which these platforms connect and share content, forming a decentralized network.
The most important thing to understand about ActivityPub is that, more than a technology to merely send and receive messages, it’s also a common ruleset – a gentleman’s agreement that everyone will play nice when sending and receiving messages.
Now when Meta opts to use ActivityPub, they’re abiding by the agreement: to play by the same rules as everybody else. Should they renege on this agreement, they are no longer using ActivityPub. They’re using something else.
But let’s assume for a moment that Meta is abiding to use ActivityPub, and they indeed will play by the same rules. Knowing Meta, this is a tall order – but still, let’s assume.
ActivityPub means that whatever of Meta’s userbase that’s exposed to federation will diversify into other platforms. This is because, through ActivityPub, smaller platforms can connect with each other and offer a combined user base that competes with Meta’s centralized network. This diversification reduces the dependence of users on a single platform, giving them more choices and potentially drawing them away from Meta.
This creates an erosion of Meta’s network effects. Meta’s entire monopoly is based on ownership of their platforms’ network effects, where the value of the platform increases as more users join. Suddenly, by federating, Meta no longer own the network effect. This is because federation challenges this by breaking down barriers between platforms, allowing users to interact regardless of the platform they are on. This reduces the exclusivity and advantage Meta holds, as the network effects become distributed across multiple interconnected platforms.
Federation also gives Meta’s users power that they never previously had. Federation promotes decentralization by giving users greater control over their data and interactions. With ActivityPub, users have the freedom to choose which platform they prefer without sacrificing connectivity. This user empowerment threatens Meta’s control over user data and engagement, potentially leading to a loss of influence and advertising revenue.
ActivityPub poses a tangible threat to Meta’s monopoly on social media. By choosing to federate, Meta might be opening Pandora’s box. The moment Meta’s users receive a message from a server not owned by Meta is the moment they’re exposed to something else beyond Meta’s control. Inevitably, this will create more diversity of ActivityPub-enabled platforms – not less. This will erode Meta’s network effects. For people who use Meta, the power of decentralization – giving them more freedom – will prove revelatory.
Of course, this is a fight. And just because Meta federates doesn’t mean it’s game over. In the next post, I will explore what Meta is hoping to gain by joining the #Fediverse.
#ActivityPub is super cool once you see it in action.
For instance, you can visit the new StarTrek lemmy server here: https://startrek.website/c/startrek. Looks like a reddit sub with posts, threaded comments, upvotes, &c.
OR you can follow the same server on Mastodon @startrek.
Every thread and comment shows up as a boosted post.
Cool, right? Now, say you find a comment that you want to reply to. Post through your favorite Mastodon app, and that feeds right back to the thread on the #Lemmy server! 🤯
Serious question, no offense or provocation intended: With this stuff being baked into Hubzilla and, apparently, also design-wise into Bluesky / AT, can anyone out here involved with the #ActivityPub outline why nomadic / easily portable identity isn't built-in here by design? Looking at the (to-be-expected) dynamics of instances going up and down, blocking each other or moving to newer, different pieces of software, this seems an absolutely obvious requirement, so I wonder why this has been left out of the standard / spec?
RE: ActivityPub Plugin for WordPress: let's assume I would work on a feature that would allow you to follow a complete blog, what would be the best identifier for that account? @feed@example.org? @blog@example.com?
What are your ideas?
So, #Bluesky is all the hype now and a lot of #Mastodon people are falling for the olde "invite link" trick which not only paints, what is ultimately going to be another social media shitshow, as an exclusive club, but also sneakily turns everyone's curiosity into a vessel for word-of-mouth advertisement to ride piggy back on.
Well, maybe the AT Protocol is at least better than #ActivityPub. So, since it is on #Github [1] , let's have a quick look and ... Aww shit! Thread time..
Tried on 2 free #Infinityfree#Wordpress installs and can't make #ActivityPub work. No errors or anything, but just can't see the sites/users in Mastodon. ActivityPub-plugin support suggested that there maybe something wrong in the setup. I guess so too. Would be great to know what and if it can be fixed. It's free to install a Wordpress-site there and investigate for someone who knows how the plugin works. @pfefferle
Direct messages (DMs) on #Mastodon / #ActivityPub / the #fediverse are not end-to-end encrypted (#e2ee) and you should never include sensitive/private information in them.
Until they are e2ee, this is all we should be telling people. Anything else is irresponsible and could cause vulnerable people harm.
Specifically, it doesn’t matter:
if your instance admin is ethical or not
whether Elon Musk can read DMs easier on Twitter
etc.
It’s not end-to-end encrypted. It’s not private. End of.
Calckey is a Fediverse server type which includes lots of features that Mastodon doesn't yet have, such as emoji reactions, markdown, customisable interfaces, widgets and lots more.
To see for yourself, have a look on the official website at:
Post from @rabble on why he's chosen to use #Nostr and not #ActivityPub and the #Fediverse. He makes some compelling points. Personally I am not too worried about the server admin parts of his argument (I have enough control, even if I don't control the server), but I agree that this isn't ideal:
Mike McCue - Hello Fediverse. I'm posting this tonight from my federated Flipboard profile! We're now testing our #ActivityPub integration starting with my account. You can follow me here to see all the stories I'm curating about things like startups, photography and of course, the #Fediverse. Curious to hear your thoughts on...
In a few weeks @w3c social web community group meeting may receive a proposal to explore chartering new social web working group that would only be open to people who work at W3C member companies. (The CG is open to all). Today there was an in person discussion at TPAC, the yearly W3C-wide f2f. It was a day-of addition to the agenda. Now is a good time to join the CG, subscribe to mailing list, and start participating in the discussions. https://www.w3.org/community/SocialCG/#vote#activitypub
This is the first release under the umbrella of #Automattic!
Thanks to Automattic and all the fantastic people who helped with this great release!
@mattwiebe for the amazing new blocks! @mediaformat for the http-signatures @jeremy for several Jetpack compatibilities @nuriapenya for the design of the settings and blocks @donnacavalier for all the texts and documentation @alex for a lot of big and small contributions
#ActivityPub, which is like the "language" that makes the #Fediverse work, doesn't have special rules to keep things private. It's more focused on helping different parts of the Fediverse talk to each other. ActivityPub doesn't have special rules to keep your messages private, so we need to be careful about what we share and who can hear us.
Imagine you have a sandcastle on the beach, and you want to keep it just for yourself and your friends. But sometimes, there are sneaky seagulls that come along and try to take your sandcastle when you're not looking. Even if you build a strong wall around your sandcastle (like ActivityPub), these sneaky seagulls (called scrapers) can still fly over the wall and take your sandcastle away. So, it's important to be careful with what you share, even if there are walls to protect your things.
And defederation doesn’t necessarily make your posts private either. You might think because you built another wall for your sandcastle that it will be safe. But sneaky seagulls can still fly over to your wall and see your sandcastle, even if you’ve created a barrier to entry (defederation) that you believe keeps them away.
So, just building a wall doesn't always keep your sandcastle (or your privacy) completely safe from the seagulls (or people who want to see your things). They have wings. They can fly over it.
First off, @evan sees this from the perspective of someone who's co-authored #ActivityPub. It's his job to spur and enable adoption -- and that's something he's done exceptionally well for 20 years. Of course he wants to help Meta abide by open standards. Which, even if you dislike Meta, you would hope they would do.
My perspective is as one who is building products that compete with Meta. Ideally, I would like people who use Meta to migrate away from there and instead use #Calckey, #GreatApe, and the numerous options available on #SpaceHost.
But even from the perspective of a competitor, I want interoperability with #Barcelona. And even more, I want interoperability based on open standards.
Yes, yes, yes -- "embrace, extend, extinguish". At this point, that phrase is a broken record.
But every time that phrase comes up, I keep asking folks: when has the "extinguish" part of "embrace, extend, extinguish" ever worked?
People say #RSS, but RSS is still here and I use it every day. Hell, Calckey even has an RSS widget and it works like a charm. RSS is not extinguished.
People also say #XMPP, but I can run an XMPP server right now -- no problems. People say XMPP "died" because it's no longer as popular now, but is it because Meta and Google dropped support, or is it because Slack, Discord, Signal, WhatsApp, and even Matrix have come along to eclipse it in popularity? Regardless, even if XMPP is no longer so popular, it's not extinguished.
The most ludicrous example of "extinguish" people bring up is Gmail's dominance of email. But email is the most popular communications technology we have today, even though it's 50 years old. What's more, look at the raw stats. Gmail is only 18% of the email server market -- that's no monopoly. Go have a look at the stats for yourselves:
The pessimistic notion that we will "lose" by allowing Meta to interoperate with ActivityPub -- again, an open standard -- just doesn't convince me. In fact, if Meta is adopting standard ActivityPub, I think "losing" is impossible.
With Meta adopting ActivityPub, we're not losing. We're winning. We're not conceding to Meta by adopting their proprietary APIs for interoperability. They're conceding to us by adopting ActivityPub.
Again, I'm not saying you should all federate with #Barcelona. I'm saying that Meta adopting an open standard that allows for interoperability is a win because, remember, they're adopting our standard. We're not adopting theirs.
Some also ask, "But what if Meta does a bait-and-switch and drops ActivityPub support?"
Well, there's kind of precedence for that.
Not enough people realize this, but Google once adopted the predecessor of ActivityPub. Specifically, they used OStatus for Google Buzz. Certainly, like many Google products, Google Buzz shuttered.
But the development for an open social media protocol lived on, and we all use what was developed right now.
No doubt, if Barcelona becomes Meta's Google Buzz, ActivityPub will live on. It will still be developed. We'll keep using it.
In the meantime, I'll consider ways to help Meta users migrate to platforms that I believe are better.
Hi @evan@cwebber @pfefferle
Timely question: Does anyone know the status of a formal or informal building out an #ActivtyPub test suite, akin to the one used to test http://webmention.rocks but for Acitivity pub.
I know the activitypub.rocks effort ended & I see this one that seemed to evolve from that but has been derelict for a while.
A case for preemptively defederating with Threads
With Meta beginning to test federation, there's a lot of discussion as to whether we should preemptively defederate with Threads. I made a post about the question, and it seems that opinions differ a lot among people on Kbin. There were a lot of arguments for and against regarding ads, privacy, and content quality, but I don't...
Meta will release an ActivityPub-enabled Twitter clone/competitor this summer. Will you join in or defederate? (www.theverge.com)
Here is what we know about it so far:...
Flipboard has begun testing ActivityPub federation of user accounts (flipboard.com)
Mike McCue - Hello Fediverse. I'm posting this tonight from my federated Flipboard profile! We're now testing our #ActivityPub integration starting with my account. You can follow me here to see all the stories I'm curating about things like startups, photography and of course, the #Fediverse. Curious to hear your thoughts on...