Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Dec 20, 2022

A kind observation that exclusively calling this place "Mastodon" has a bit similar energy as saying "I just sent a GMail."

"Fediverse" (or "fedi") is a more inclusive, general term.

Mastodon is just one of many software projects that talk to each other to create this multi-instance social network:
https://axbom.com/fediverse/

(kudos to @axbom for this fantastic infographic!)

There are blogs, Reddit-like communities, video instances and many more, all part of fedi.

#TwitterMigration #NewHere

The many branches of the Fediverse

As more and more people are asking me about Mastodon I felt a need for a picture to point at, showcasing how the software known as Mastodon fits into the much larger concept of the Fediverse. I made this infographic to help myself and others explain the many different use-cases

Axbom • My Next Heartbeat
Show threadKrupo
@rysiek @axbom so do all these branches have the ability to "talk" to each other?
Dec 20, 2022 at 3:56amWeb
Show thread"Nurture-boy" Ric FlairDec 20, 2022
@krupo
Pretty much, yes. Implementation may be more or less complete depending on the product or client, but since they all use the activitypub protocol, they can all talk to each other. You can add/follow a pixelfed or Friendica or peertube account right from mastodon, and vice versa!
@rysiek @axbom
Show threadRaphaelDec 20, 2022
@axbom @mikefordays @rysiek @krupo but #ActivityPub is extendable, right? And don’t many of them build upon ActivityPub? How seamless is the cross-platform experience really (so far I’ve only used #Mastodon)? I do agree with the overall sentiment, though, that this is the #fedivere
Show threadStefan Laser🗜️Dec 20, 2022
@krupo @rysiek @axbom The entire tree, yes, so you can also follow Pixelfed (Insta alternative) posts and comment. ActivityPub is the key. Yet if you want to post on a platform like Pixelfed, you need a dedicated account. For our microblogging here (all in yellow), this is irrelevant. Platforms like FB and Twitter could, theoretically, also open up their protocol, but they decide not to.
Show threadKatzentratschenDec 20, 2022
@stefanlaser @krupo @rysiek @axbom Thanks for your explanation. What's the difference UX-wise between "Pixelfed account follows a Mastodon account" and "Pixelfed account follows another Pixelfed account"? What would I gain with a dedicated account?
Show threadStefan Laser🗜️Dec 20, 2022
@katzentratschen @krupo @rysiek @axbom It looks more like Insta and the like, so it's made for images and very short text. Mastodon etc. are better for text. But I'm no expert in this, I've just tested the setup once.
Show threadKatzentratschenDec 20, 2022
@stefanlaser Some Mastodon apps have full-width images and therefore look and feel a lot like Instagram. Maybe these former distinct characteristics between Fediverse services are vanishing over time as more and more apps are available? @krupo @rysiek @axbom
Show threadStefan Laser🗜️Dec 20, 2022
@katzentratschen @krupo @rysiek @axbom Oh sounds sweet, like the Mastodon app on Android?
Show threadKatzentratschenDec 20, 2022
@stefanlaser Both Android and iOS. It's still "text first" but one could implement a simple button with which users are able to toggle text-image order, change text length etc.
Show threadYohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣Dec 21, 2022

@stefanlaser To add, PixelFed's dashboard or timeline doesn't show posts that doesn't have a photo.

While on BookWyrm's side, its dashboard/timeline shows everything like Mastodon, Calckey, Rebased, Akkoma, Friendica, Hubzilla, Socialhome.

Meanwhile, WriteFreely doesn't offer a way to follow other accounts, there is a sister project for "reading". But, anyone using other software can follow a WriteFreely blog.

There is also PeerTube, which only shows posts with videos.

At first, it seems that these different projects are practically just "different UI" and "different UX". But, once you use it, you'll start to notice the different things.

It's no different from using Twitter. You can upload photos and videos under your Twitter account. Or, you can use a dedicated software for images like Instagram and Flickr. Or, YouTube and Vimeo for videos.

Software like Friendica, Hubzilla, Rebased, Akkoma, Calckey, Misskey, Mastodon, Socialhome? They're like Twitter and Facebook. You can upload videos, images, and other content.

But software like Pixelfed, PeerTube, BookWyrm, WriteFreely, are more focused.

The only difference is that, within the Fediverse network, if you only want to follow people, you can pick, say a Mastodon server, and just follow anyone from anywhere, like someone on Pixelfed.

Outside of the Fediverse network, if you have a Twitter account, you can not follow someone on Instagram.

Or, if you just want to browse photos, you can have a Pixelfed account, and still be able to follow anyone, including those in, say, Mastodon servers. You will only see posts with attached images.

Outside of the Fediverse, someone on Instagram will never see images uploaded by Twitter accounts.

^_^

@katzentratschen @krupo @rysiek @axbom

Show threadStefan Laser🗜️Dec 21, 2022
@youronlyone @katzentratschen @krupo @rysiek @axbom This is such a rich explanation, thanks a lot! If you don't mind, what is your instance/application of choice? That doesn't look like the usual character limit.
Show threadYohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣Dec 22, 2022

@stefanlaser

I'm on c.im, it is powered by Mastodon but with a 5,000-character limit (and tags are very noticeable).

I also have an account on public.garden (5,000-character limit, powered by #Rebased); and hashi.icu (300,000-character limit, powered by #Misskey). At least, these are the ones I actively use with more than 500-character limit.

^_^

@katzentratschen @krupo @rysiek @axbom

Show threadKatzentratschenDec 21, 2022
@youronlyone Thank you very much for all your replies. 🤗@stefanlaser @krupo @rysiek @axbom
Show threadMathias Hellquist 🤘 Dec 20, 2022

@krupo

All of the different #Fediverse services/flavours have implemented #ActivityPub to a varying degree. Some of them have implemented just a crude basic version and can only post but doesn’t list posts from other services (#Pixelfed for example).

Others have implemented ActivityPub as it stands and then added functionality, sometimes ”opinionated” (especially compared to #Mastodon) to it, which sometimes only can be utilized fully if your audience is on the same platform (for example ”groups”, ”forums”, ”quote posts” etc which all exist in for example #Friendica, #Akkoma (which isn’t in that graph btw) etc which can’t even be displayed properly, or have support, in Mastodon).

Most of the services that have the main purpose of letting their users do text based posts (”notes” I think is the technical term for it in ActivityPub) can talk and see the other services that also do text based posts. Mastodon/Pleroma/Akkoma/Misskey cannot see/talk to #Diaspora for example, but Friendica can.

Mastodon itself is the poster-hero of the Fediverse as it has the most users (and an active company behind it that can coordinate promotion), but there is a lot of interesting development happening in the rest of the Fediverse when it comes to functionality and capabilities.

@rysiek @axbom

Akkoma