A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Fediverse¶

The Federated Universe, or Fediverse, is a free and open source alternative to commercial social media platforms.

The Fediverse is a federated network, consisting of various interconnected social networks and micro blogging services. Users can freely communicate and share pictures, videos, music and more. At the time of writing, the Fediverse counted over 5 million users. The Fediverse is:

• Decentral – instead of a single entity, there are various alternative providers offering access to the Fediverse. Anyone can run a server, or a so-called instance, and provide services to a community. It's as if any user or organisation could run their own Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Instagram server and invite friends to join.
• Federated – users from different services can communicate with each other, thanks to the ActivityPub protocol. It's as if Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube users could freely interact with each other.
• Not evil – the Fediverse isn't optimized to capture the user's attention, create user profiles and serve as much ads and paid content as possible. Much to the contrary of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit and the likes.
• About people – There are no filters which decide what users will see in their timelines and what will be censored. No algorithms which force controversial content upon users to keep them "engaged". No dark patterns to influence users' behaviour. Again, this sets the Fediverse apart from Big Tech.
• About agency – There is no need to give away extended copyrights. No arbitrary and opaque terms of service or moderation policies. No digital walls between social networks. In opposition to commercial platforms run by tech giants.

Mastodon (Twitter alternative)¶

What is Mastodon? It's the Fediverse alternative to Twitter. It's a micro blogging service where users follow accounts, post 500 character messages (called Toots), retweet content (called Boost) and so forth. Created in 2016, Mastodon is fully open source and can be self-hosted. At the time of writing, Mastodon counted nearly 2 million users.

PeerTube (YouTube alternative)¶

Peertube is the Fediverse alternative to Youtube, Vimeo or Dailymotion. It's a media streaming platform where users view, like or upload videos. Created in 2015, PeerTube is fully open source and can be self-hosted. At the time of writing, PeerTube counted almost 200.000 users.

PixelFed (Instagram alternative)¶

PixelFed is the Fediverse alternative to Instagram. It's a social network where users share, like and comment pictures and videos. Created in 2018, PixelFed is fully open source and can be self-hosted. At the time of writing, PixelFed counted over 50.000 users.

Lemmy (Reddit alternative)¶

Lemmy is the Fediverse alternative to Reddit. It's a social network where users join communities and post, like or comment on status updates and pictures. Created in 2019, Lemmy is fully open source and can be self-hosted. At the time of writing, Lemmy counted nearly 20.000 active users.

Friendica (Facebook alternative)¶

Friendica is the Fediverse alternative to Facebook. It's a social network where users subscribe to forums to post, vote and comment on links and discussions. Created in 2010, Friendica is fully open source and can be self-hosted. At the time of writing, Friendica counted over 10.000 users.

Funkwhale (Spotify alternative)¶

Funkwhale is the Fediverse alternative to YouTube, Spotify or SoundCloud. It's a social network where users listen to, like or upload music, podcasts and radio broadcasts. Created in 2015, Funkwhale is fully open source and can be self-hosted. At the time of writing, Funkwhale counted almost 5.000 users.

Support¶

For further details or questions, refer to:

• Mastodon's documentation or forum
• PeerTube's documentation, FAQ or forum
• PixelFed's documentation or help page
• Friendica's documentation or support site
• Lemmy's documentation
• Funkwhale's documentation or forum