Any computer program can be designed to run from a single file if you architect it wrong enough! I wanted to create the simplest possible Fediverse server which can be used as an educational tool to show how ActivityPub / Mastodon works. The design goals were: Upload a single PHP file to the server. No […]
My wife is looking forward to deleting her Instagram account once she can connect with the same folks from her Mastodon account. Being able to remain in touch with over 100M people who still use Meta products out of the comfort of an ad-free, privacy-friendly platform like Mastodon is a game changer.
I hope that an organization as massive as Meta adopting #ActivityPub will send a signal that pushes Tumblr and other platforms that have been considering it over the edge in doing the same. Perhaps even Bluesky would consider replacing or at least supplementing their custom protocol with the @w3c standard for interoperability.
Wow. Wordpress just announced they have to drop support for Twitter in their Jetpack post sharing plug-in as they haven’t been able to reach agreement with Twitter for access. They are committing to adding support for Mastodon!
The majority of the Web’s individually run websites are Wordpress! It’s ON!!
#Barcelona, #Meta's Twitter competitor, will be ready by summer.
And lest you believe #ActivityPub integration was just some rumour, think again. In a slide, Meta confirms that Barcelona will indeed be decentralized and will be compatible with Mastodon.
Everyone who thought that AT protocol would easily win over ActivityPub, and that #Bluesky would kill Mastodon just because a few influencers joined doesn't understand the sheer marketing power and pull that Meta has at its disposal.
But believe me, I'm not exactly cheering on Meta here. Generally, where Meta goes, shenanigans happen. I simply don't think Meta is capable of releasing a product without dark patterns.
Nevertheless, I don't think the Fediverse is even close to preparing for what will happen once Barcelona starts federating.
I just had a look at #Meta's recent press release about #Threads, and something caught my attention right away.
For the very first time, they're acknowledging another #Fediverse platform alongside #Mastodon. Specifically, they're highlighting that #WordPress can now connect through #ActivityPub.
Now, you know Meta's PR department doesn't say things by accident. So here's why this is a big deal. Last time I checked, WordPress powers a whopping 43% of the Internet. Yeah, you heard that right! If you visit a website, there's a good chance it's using WordPress as its CMS.
Now, if even a fraction of those WordPress sites start federating, it could have a huge impact on the network effect of the Fediverse. Of course, Meta isn't oblivious to this. I've been talking about the potential of WordPress and ActivityPub for quite some time now.
But if you're particularly observant, you might also notice that they mention #Tumblr. We've known for a while that Tumblr is likely to integrate ActivityPub into their platform.
But here's an interesting tidbit: Did you know that one company, Automattic, not only owns Tumblr but is also the driving force behind WordPress?
I don't want to jump to conclusions, but once again, PR departments don't just drop hints randomly. I have a strong feeling that Meta has been having some high-level discussions with Automattic about the future of ActivityPub. It wouldn't surprise me if Meta has some insights into Automattic's upcoming plans for the Fediverse.
It took 4 months and 50 code commits, but my federated version of reddit (written in #python) can now follow and be followed by instances of #kbin and #lemmy!
Getting #ActivityPub working has been ... a journey.
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.
A new #fediverse tool I've been working on (please be gentle on it!): hashtag.place! It is a simple way to follow #hashtags as bot accounts, useful for ActivityPub implementations that don't support native following of hashtags, and for smaller/self-hosted instances that may not see a lot of the tagged posts from larger instances.
It's pretty simple:
Pick a hashtag you want to follow (e.g., #running)
Replace the #-sign with an @-sign and search for that user on the hashtag.place server (e.g., @running)
Follow the bot account and it will every few minutes post new posts with that hashtag seen on larger instances!
(The bots will self-delete if they have 0 followers for a few days, so don't worry if you don't like it and unfollow).
Feedback welcome for my first foray into #ActivityPub development!
Seeing creators and artists banned or locked out of the big social networks with no warning or recourse really makes you want to pour effort into the decentralized social web. These are people’s livelihood, just being yanked out from under them. I don’t want to jump into the replies like some jerk and tell them they should have joined #Mastodon but these people deserve an audience that can’t be taken away for no reason with no way to get it back. #ActivityPub#fediverse
So, open message: if you're from #Meta and you are working on this #P92 service, you should contact the #W3C#SocialCG to work on compatibility with #ActivityPub.
We're excited about your project and we're here to help.
A new episode of Dot Social, the first podcast about the open social web, is out! In it, Flipboard CEO @mike chats with ActivityPub co-author @evan about what the protocol unlocks for builders and entrepreneurs, how open-source social networks change our relationships to content and each other, and why any of this matters at all. Learn more and take a listen!
The Podcast Index has an ActivityPub implementation, and now I can follow some of my more irreverent non-techie podcasts directly on the fediverse. So cool! Hopefully they'll add a Follow button soon...but in the meantime:
Find your podcast on the site
Grab the numeric value at the end of the url
Search for the podcast with this name {numericValue}@ap.podcastindex.org
I believe we are at a consequential moment for the open social Web so I thought I'd start a podcast for people to hear directly from many of the pioneers in this space.
To kick things off I talk with @mmasnick about his seminal 2019 paper "Protocols not Platforms" and we go deep on what it will take for the open social Web to blossom and thrive next year.
The world of social media is changing, and we are embracing this new social web, the Fediverse. Today, we started to federate our platform with a test of 25 partners. You can read more about that on @mike's post here:
The WordPress ActivityPub plugin has been updated to version 2.0. The major feature of the release is better comment federation. Comments are now properly threaded, which makes it much easier to follow and understand threads where people are replying to each other. Comments are now also bidirectionally federated. Creator @pfefferleexplains:
“When you respond to comments from the fediverse on your blog, they will now be federated. This allows you to finally engage in (threaded) communication back and forth directly from the comment section of your blog!”
This makes the plugin more valuable for bloggers who do not have another fediverse account for example, allowing them to respond directly from the blog, with their responses now showing up in the fediverse as well.
Comments made by people who use the reply feature on the website itself do not get federated. Pfefferle explains that this is mainly a legal question for GDPR compliance. Work is still continuing on the plugin: Pfefferle mentions working with the Akismet team to make sure that it’s spam detection system also works with ActivityPub, as well as working on a Profile Editor UI.
#Instagram users should just switch to #Pixelfed. Seriously. The UI of Pixelfed is lighter and works very well without being authenticated (no login popup, etc.).
With a small user base (compared to IG), everytime I post the same photo on Pixelfed and IG, I get way more views (and comments !) on Pixelfed.It's quite fun. And the comments are really nice. The goal is not to spam my account.