Studies, research papers, interactive data visualizations, and informal polls that explore the fediverse.
Collected by @stefan, with personal contributions.
| Website | https://fediverseexplorations.org |
| Join the fediverse! | https://jointhefediverse.net |
RE: https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/115418060743537770
This took a bit longer than expected, but it's finally here: the "Join the Fediverse!" zine!
Hachyderm is the El Paso of the Fediverse
It can be kind of hard to understand how big a server (instance) on the Fediverse really is. I know mastodon.social is much bigger than the server I'm on, but how much bigger, really?
So what if we compare the populations of servers to cities?
I built a tool for that! https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/fedicities/
Let's compare mastodon.social, the biggest server on the Fediverse, to the biggest city in the world, Shanghai (pop 24.9M). In comparison, pixelfed.social is like Ahmedabad, India (pop 6.4M). hachyderm.io is like El Paso, Texas (pop 679K). The server I'm on, discuss.systems, is like Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany (pop 32.1K).
Cool but maybe I'm not so familiar with some of those cities. What if we compare to cities in Mexico? (mastodon.social is Mexico City, Hachyderm is Tepic) Or Ontario? (mastodon.social is Toronto, Hachyderm is Caledon).
Play around with this tool, select an area of the world you're familiar with, and get a better sense for how big all these servers really are! Check out what your own server is comparable to!
Most boosted Fediverse posts of 2025:
1. @maxleibman: https://beige.party/@maxleibman/114441790730464541 (3815 boosts)
2. @stux: https://mstdn.social/@stux/113974665364673502 (3720 boosts)
3. @pixelfed: https://mastodon.social/@pixelfed/113849098386232034 (3153 boosts)
4. @signalapp: https://mastodon.world/@signalapp/115311121329278998 (3128 boosts)
5. @Daojoan: https://mastodon.social/@Daojoan/114587431688413845 (3045 boosts)
Terms & Conditions apply, see thread.
No, I do not want to install your app. No, I do not want that app to run on startup. No, I do not want that app shortcut on my desktop. No, I do not want to subscribe to your newsletter. No, I do not want your site to send me notifications. No, I do not want to tell you about my recent experience. No, I do not want to sign up for an account. No, I do not want to sign up using a different service and let the two of you know about each other. No, I do not want to sign in for a more personalized experience. No, I do not want to allow you to read my contacts. No, I do not want you to scan my content. No, I do not want you to track me. No, I do not want to click "Later" or "Not now" when what I mean is NO.
TIL that there's an #openstreetmap feature that shows #fediverse instances.
Edit: Adding thanks to @jaz for making the map
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/fediverse-near-me_828094#3/46.86/-46.58
Launching their new social network, W, a group in the EU posted a map of where other social networks are hosted. It showed nothing in Europe.
But their map is wrong.
Here's what Mastodon actually looks like, and what the Fediverse as a whole actually looks like.
RE: https://hachyderm.io/@sabrinkmann/115921511288588522
Some interesting insights here!
Of the 364 accounts in this list, respectively:
- 291 accounts findable according to the setting (80%),
- 134 accounts are indexable according to the setting (37 %),
- 102 accounts have at least one verified link (28 %),
- 74 accounts have at least one pinned post (20 %).
https://mastodon-account-checker.playground.54gradsoftware.de/
Interesting, Mastodon/fediverse as a teaching/learning tool.
"In the second week of the course, students were asked to compare the moderation policies of one mainstream social media site and a Mastodon instance of their choosing, other than our class instance."
https://sciences.social/@altsocialmedianet/115888227913946469
This also nicely shows you how resilient the fediverse can be. In my case, if mastodon.social, the largest fediverse server, goes down, I can still interact with 80% of the people I follow and who follow me.
Neat!
For more fun explorations like these, check out https://fediverseexplorations.org!
Hey #forkiverse people, and everyone else who has joined us recently!
You might be just learning about the thing that makes fediverse special, that it's made up of many communities spread across many servers running different platforms.
Now, I won't bore anyone with how all that works, but here are two cool ways to visualize this.
- https://data.stefanbohacek.com/projects/fediverse lets you see which servers you are connected to (I made this one!)
- https://moderation-explorer.online helps you understand the shared responsibility of fediverse moderators
Hope you'll enjoy!
Stefan Bohacek
Rob Ricci
Hendrik Weimer
Josh
dansup