TechCrunch: Mastodon is making its decentralized social network easier to use with its latest revamp. “Mastodon is making changes in the hopes of making its social networking service more appealing and easier to use, especially for more mainstream users looking for an alternative to X or Threads. On Thursday, the decentralized social networking software maker said it’s redesigning a key part […]

MauveRANT: Self-Hosting Pixelfed: Federated Instagram Without the Algorithm. “Pixelfed is the fediverse answer to Instagram. It’s an ActivityPub-powered photo sharing platform with no algorithmic timeline, no ads, no engagement-optimized dark patterns, and no company deciding what you see based on what makes them money. I’d been using pixelfed.social for a while, but there’s something about […]

Mastodon Blog: A new Share button. “The distributed nature of the network is the greatest strength of Mastodon, but it also means that having a share button that takes you to the ‘correct’ Mastodon server for your account, is a lot more involved than a simple hyperlink. Third party solutions have existed before now, but none of them have become ubiquitous, or easy to discover for website […]

TechCrunch: Mastodon, a decentralized alternative to X, plans to target creators with new features . “Today, Mastodon sees somewhere between 750,000 and 1 million monthly active users, depending on the source. One third-party tracker puts the figure closer to 750,000, while another estimates as many as 1 million. Mastodon’s own site says the figure is around 785,000. As part of its coming […]

TechCrunch: A beginner’s guide to Mastodon, the open source Twitter alternative . “Unless if you’re really in the know about nascent platforms, you probably didn’t know what Mastodon was until Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X. In the initial aftermath of the acquisition, as users fretted over what direction Twitter would take, millions of users hopped over to Mastodon, a fellow […]

Terence Eden: Now witness the power of this fully operational Fediverse!. “Until fairly recently, the Mastodon social network didn’t send referer details. I thought that reduced the visibility of the network and lobbied for it to change. As various Mastodon servers upgrade, and admins opt-in, it is becoming more apparent just how much traffic originates from the Fediverse.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/25/terence-eden-now-witness-the-power-of-this-fully-operational-fediverse/

Mastodon Blog (Eugen Rochko): My next chapter with Mastodon. “After nearly 10 years, I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon and transferring my ownership of the trademark and other assets to the Mastodon non-profit. Over the course of my time at Mastodon, I have centered myself less and less in our outward communications, and to some degree, this is the culmination of that trend.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/21/mastodon-blog-my-next-chapter-with-mastodon/

Engadget: Bluesky revamps its moderation and reporting tools with transparency in mind. “Bluesky is looking to make its moderation and reporting systems more transparent as part of its efforts to forge a healthier social media ecosystem than some of the alternatives out there.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/20/engadget-bluesky-revamps-its-moderation-and-reporting-tools-with-transparency-in-mind/

Tim Bray: Time to Migrate. “This month marks the third anniversary of my Mastodon migration and I’m convinced that right now, in late 2025, it’s the best place to go. Come join me. Here’s why.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/14/tim-bray-time-to-migrate/