What is the Fediverse & Social Web?
I love this explainer -> What is the Fediverse & Social Web?
We’ve all been trained on the Internet to think in terms of “what platform do I join?” when the real question is “how does this platform join with other platforms?”
Way back in yesteryear, no one joined Gmail because all their friends & organizations joined Gmail. No! People joined Gmail because it obviously could join with other platforms (like Hotmail, Yahoo!, Comcast, AOL, etc) and Gmail had tons of storage, a great interface, and a fast connection.
I love the explainer’s short, tactical way to get on the Fediverse.
How do I get on the Fediverse?
There’s no one way to get on the Fediverse — there are a lot of different projects and products that support it. Here are some common ways to get started with a personal account on the Fediverse:
- Get an account on a Mastodon server at joinmastodon.org
- Join Threads and enable Fediverse sharing
- Join Pixelfed to share photos
- Join Medium and get a free me.dm account
- Get a WordPress.com blog and enable the ActivityPub plugin
- Download the Flipboard app
- Get a Write.As blog
- Start publishing with Ghost.org
Even though Meta has closed off Facebook and Instagram, I love & appreciate how they’ve integrated Threads. It’s a well-built platform app (maybe too well-built…).
I am partial to WordPress – but you can still follow this site anywhere!
Here’s what it looks like on Threads –
Here’s what my posts look like for anyone following on Mastodon –
And…best of all, since the content is on the Open Web. It’s still available via Google, DuckDuckGo, email, or RSS.
Now – IMO, a lot of the Social Web is wonky and geeky. There is no sleek onboarding and discovery like there is on a walled garden app. I think that’s a feature, not a bug though. The three most interesting & simplest ways to publish on the Web right now are –
- WordPress.com – known for blogging, but it can be short-form or long-form. Just turn on the ActivityPub plugin
- Threads (with Fediverse Sharing turned on) – publishing with Instagram’s base of users. It’s got ads and a shockingly addictive For You feed. But, it has Meta’s design & money behind it.
