The Fediverse: What if social networks became truly social again?

Fediverse is short for “federated universe”

Back to basics: the open spirit of the Internet

Do you remember what made the Internet so powerful in its early days? Interconnection and compatibility.

Take email: whether you have a Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook address, you can exchange messages with the entire world. You can even choose your preferred email application to check your messages. It’s the same with the web: billions of pages accessible from any browser, regardless of your internet service provider.

That’s what true digital freedom looks like.

The lock-in of social networks

But social networks born with Web 2.0 have completely abandoned this philosophy. WhatsApp, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), iMessage… all these services are walled gardens.

You can only communicate, share, like, or comment with people who use exactly the same service as you. Even worse: these platforms force you to use their application without allowing other developers to create alternatives.

Imagine a world with multiple “Facebooks”

Try this exercise: imagine that many Facebook-like social networks exist, offered by different organizations and individuals. And the same for Instagram, X, or Reddit.

To differentiate themselves, these services would be themed. You could choose a social network based on your interests, language, or region. An Instagram in the colors of your favorite football club. Another dedicated to amateur photographers.

These different versions are called “instances”.

Welcome to the Fediverse

What I’ve just described already exists.

Obviously, these networks aren’t called Facebook or Twitter. They have names like Mastodon, Misskey, or Pleroma. Image-sharing services look like Pixelfed. And YouTube alternatives are called PeerTube.

And here’s the best part: all instances are interconnected. A single account is enough to interact with users across the entire federation.

With your Mastodon account (which is similar to X and Facebook), you can subscribe to photo feeds from Pixelfed users AND comment on PeerTube videos. Wouldn’t it be cool to follow an Instagram profile from X? In the Fediverse, that’s the norm.

And here’s the best part: all instances are interconnected. A single account is enough to interact with users across the entire federation.

The advantages of a decentralized network

Fediverse services are generally free, open source, don’t collect your data, and don’t display ads.

The idea? Prevent a large corporation from controlling the entire network. That’s why instances that become very large often stop accepting new users.

Effective community moderation

This size limitation also makes content moderation easier. The Fediverse community places great importance on this: each instance is responsible for monitoring what is published there.

Thanks to the federated structure, an instance used to publish illicit or illegal content can be excluded from the network (blocked by other instances).

Other services to discover

The Fediverse isn’t limited to traditional social networks. It also includes Lemmy, a Reddit-like link aggregator, and Matrix, a federated and secure messaging service.

Get started!

Start by creating a Mastodon account. You can then follow other Fediverse users like:

Digital artist @[email protected]
Comic creators @[email protected] and their quirky humor
News site @[email protected]
Or even the European Commission @[email protected]

Update – April 2024

Faced with the growing enthusiasm for the Fediverse, even commercial giants are starting to react. Tumblr and Threads (a Meta initiative) are exploring ways to connect to this federated network.

This trend highlights the growing pressure from users for more transparency and respect for their privacy.