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 threadKrupoDec 20, 2022
@rysiek @axbom so do all these branches have the ability to "talk" to each other?
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 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 threadKatzentratschen
@youronlyone Thank you very much for all your replies. 🤗@stefanlaser @krupo @rysiek @axbom
Dec 21, 2022 at 3:41pmWeb