ActivityPub enables the sharing of social network information in a distributed manner, facilitating the development of new distributed social networks.
Improving searchability and discoverability of users across instances is a challenge in the Fediverse, but efforts are being made to address it.
Mastodon's success is attributed to its user-friendly UI, responsiveness to user feedback, and reliable development, which have garnered the trust and admiration of its user base.
Deep dives
The Growth of Mastodon and the Fediverse
Mastodon has experienced significant growth as users reconsider their relationship with Twitter. The Fediverse, a decentralized network of community-owned social networks, has gained popularity, with Mastodon being a key player. The Activity Pub protocol, co-authored by Evan Prodromo, facilitates the sharing of social network information across servers. The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk has further stimulated interest in Mastodon and the Fediverse, leading to a surge in users.
The Development and Significance of Activity Pub
Activity Pub, a W3C standard, enables the sharing of social network information in a distributed manner. It consists of data structures called activity streams, which define the format for sharing posts, comments, likes, and other social interactions, and a mechanism for routing these activities between people and servers. Activity Pub's establishment as the official social web protocol has facilitated the development of new distributed social networks, attracting both open-source projects and commercial organizations, such as Medium, Mozilla, and Automattic (Tumblr).
Challenges and Future Possibilities for the Fediverse
While the Fediverse and Mastodon have seen remarkable growth, challenges remain, particularly in terms of searchability and discoverability of users across instances. Efforts are being made to improve this aspect, with various third-party services emerging. However, privacy concerns and negative feedback have hindered progress. The establishment of instances by renowned organizations, such as Mozilla and Medium, brings hope for enhanced searchability and discovery. Additionally, the issue of scalability and the sustainability of single-person-run instances or servers is a pressing concern, which calls for cooperative models and smaller, more manageable instances.
Successful Features of Mastodon
Mastodon has been successful due to various factors. Firstly, its web UI and experience are user-friendly and nicely styled, which sets it apart from other open-source web software. Secondly, Mastodon has been responsive to user feedback and needs, allowing for different types of content sharing, control over posts, and customization features. Additionally, Mastodon has a strong mobile presence with official Android and iOS clients, along with a responsive web UI. While it may not be as visually appealing as some alternatives, it provides a functional and accessible mobile experience. Lastly, the project has been characterized by reliable development, consistent code delivery, and a straightforward approach, which has gained the trust and admiration of its user base.
The Importance of a People-centered Social Network
Mastodon and federated social networks offer an alternative to the centralized and often controlled nature of popular social media platforms. The promise of social networking was to connect people, but it fell short on delivering a positive experience and respecting user priorities. Mastodon, with its federated structure, allows for the creation of smaller, shared-interest communities, mimicking the way we organize ourselves in the real world. This decentralization gives people control over their social experiences and fosters healthier relationships. By taking responsibility for our own platforms, we can prioritize communication, privacy, and safety, creating spaces that truly benefit our well-being and sense of community.
This week Evan Prodromou is back to take us deeper into the Fediverse. As many of us reconsider our relationship with Twitter, Mastodon has been by-and-large the target of migration. They helped to popularize the idea of a federated universe of community-owned, decentralized, social networks. And, at the heart of it all is ActivityPub. ActivityPub is a decentralized social networking protocol published by the W3C. It is co-authored by Evan as well as; Christine Lemmer-Webber, Jessica Tallon, Erin Shepherd, and Amy Guy. Today, Evan shares the details behind this protocol and where the Fediverse might be heading.
Changelog++ members save 2 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!
Sponsors:
Postman – Build APIs together — More than 20 million developers use Postman for building and using APIs. Postman simplifies each step of the API lifecycle and streamlines collaboration so you can create better APIs—faster.
Fly.io – The home of Changelog.com — Deploy your apps and databases close to your users. In minutes you can run your Ruby, Go, Node, Deno, Python, or Elixir app (and databases!) all over the world. No ops required. Learn more at fly.io/changelog and check out the speedrun in their docs.
Fastly – Our bandwidth partner. Fastly powers fast, secure, and scalable digital experiences. Move beyond your content delivery network to their powerful edge cloud platform. Learn more at fastly.com
