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This one is for all the new people on #Mastodon: did you know that the #fediverse has more than just a microblogging replacement? And that they can all interoperate with your Mastodon account?

Check them out!

JoinPeerTube

PeerTube is a decentralized video hosting network, based on free/libre software. Join the federation and take back control of your videos!
JoinPeerTube
#fediverse #Mastodon
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
It’s also worth mentioning that you can integrate your #Wordpress or #Drupal blogs into the fediverse, too! So, you can natively integrate your articles, and replies on the fediverse can show up as comments on them!

WordPress: https://github.com/pfefferle/wordpress-activitypubDrupal: https://git.drupalcode.org/project/activitypub

GitHub - pfefferle/wordpress-activitypub: ActivityPub for WordPress

ActivityPub for WordPress. Contribute to pfefferle/wordpress-activitypub development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
#Wordpress #Drupal
Adam
Adam  
•
I've been trying to get that Wordpress plug in to work for some years now! If they ever iron out the bugs on that and put a management interface into the dashboard, that would be great!
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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Admittedly, it probably needs some love. If there are any PHP devs willing to pitch it, that project would really benefit.
ChiefGyk3D
ChiefGyk3D  
•
is that why I see all these instances federated?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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Kind of. They don’t all interconnect on a 1:1 basis, but any status-based platform (Friendica, Hubzilla, Mastodon, Pleroma) can follow accounts there.
Piper Carter
Piper Carter  
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I have so many Wordpress questions.
Elias Mårtenson
Elias Mårtenson  
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it may be worth mentioning writefreely as well?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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Good catch! I initially left those off the list, because they’re not quite replacements per se…but, WriteFreely and Plume are 100% worth mentioning also!

Plume

joinplu.me
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Oh, I almost forgot! There’s also a #SoundCloud replacement called Reel2Bits by @dashie ! As far as I can tell, it’s not being actively developed right now, but it works great, and could provide a basis for another music app?

reel2bits - opensource audio and podcast sharing

Federated platform for audio and podcast sharing
reel2bits.org
#Soundcloud @dashie
[object Otter] :verified_paw: ‮
[object Otter] :verified_paw: ‮  
•
@dashie never managed to get any help, fossbros don't care apparently.
@dashie
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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I care, I just suck at programming. :sad_lemon:
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Short answer: yes. Funkwhale has a dedicated mobile app for Android that works brilliantly, and also offers a Subsonic API for other apps.
si2mev
si2mev  
•
didn't get it to work easily. Website of funkywhale is not very helpful.

Also you may change Spotify alternative to music streaming alternative. Cause Spotify is not the only big one.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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Unfortunately, I can’t edit my status yet, but fair point.

The docs for FunkWhale are pretty good, it’s just a little weird to set up due to being a Django/Python app. I used to run a server, and didn’t have many problems.

https://docs.funkwhale.audio/admin/index.html#setup-guides

Let me know where you’re getting stuck, and I’ll try to help.

Administrator Documentation — funkwhale 1.2.8 documentation

docs.funkwhale.audio
InfiniteOne
InfiniteOne  
•
For this non-techie, all these new doors opening up with amazing new worlds that I had no clue existed, due to the kind and courteous tour guides is more than appreciated. The feeling is like Charlie entering the chocolate factory and seeing these amazing creations, courtesy of Willy Wonka.🤣
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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Thank you! 😁 There’s an enormous amount of potential behind the network. The naysayers often conflate Mastodon with the rest of the network, but have no idea what it’s capable of.

It’s not just a Twitter killer. It has the potential to destroy all corporate silos, and bring a new kind of communication structure to the entire Internet. There’s a lot of hard problems yet to solve, but a lot of awesome things happening.
Spencer
Spencer  
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As someone who's been living in the chocolate factory for years, it's exciting to see new people coming in.

The internet is so much bigger and more full of possibility than the big corporate walled gardens, and I'm thrilled to be able to share that discovery!
crown
crown  
•
is friendica have usable gui what is not confusing?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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It has a pretty decent UI. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better than previous releases. I plan on doing some theme development for it, eventually.
crown
crown  
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i only saw fika.grin.hu GUI, but it reminds me the websites around 2000. it's the myspace version of facebook? :)
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
LibraNet.de might be more to your liking, I believe they use a newer theme?

LIBRANET.de | Home

LibraNet.de
Hypolite Petovan
Hypolite Petovan  
•
We’re, huh, working on it, but not having frontend people regularly contributing is definitely our Achilles’ heel
dosch :unverified:
dosch :unverified:  
•
still missing a fedi-alternative for LinkedIn 🙂
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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You know, aside from being a place to build a resume, I have never understood the appeal of LinkedIn.

I feel like Friendica might be an okay replacement for the social parts?
Hypolite Petovan
Hypolite Petovan  
•
Goodness forbids we start receiving bug reports from corporate head hunters. 😰
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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Yeah, you’ve got me! They all have their differences to their supposed analogues, but I would wager that many fall under the “Good enough” category for most people.
GrrlScientist ⧖ Ⓥ
GrrlScientist ⧖ Ⓥ  
•
do these sites also "communicate" with mastodon? (looking at bookwyrm now, and not really understanding what these sites are about)
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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I don’t think BookWyrm does, but it still federates using the ActivityPub protocol. That being said, the majority of what I’ve recommended, you can follow accounts on those from Mastodon.

You can literally follow a PeerTube account, watch their video from Mastodon, reply with a status, and the comment shows up on PeerTube.

I have an instance at spectra.video if you’d like to try it out with any random video on there! Just copy a video URL to your Mastodon search bar, and it will show up as a status with embedded video.

Spectra

Spectra is a special new PeerTube instance dedicated to supporting original content creators, and building the video community within the fediverse!
spectra.video
GrrlScientist ⧖ Ⓥ
GrrlScientist ⧖ Ⓥ  
•
well, that's pretty danged cool. i'll have to try that (but first, i must write a thing)
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
A good way to think about it: a long while back, to Twitter and Instagram got into a disagreement. Twitter decided to refuse to show Insta links as rich previews, making it more inconvenient to share pictures with Twitter.

There is no such barrier in the fediverse. You can follow people on Pixelfed and interact as if it were native to you.
k cavaliere
k cavaliere  
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Thanks! I didn't know about Pixelfed. I have to look into it.
Raph J :verified:
Raph J :verified:  
•
And contrary to the private GAFAMs trying to hold you captive : they communicate!

You can follow, like and comment a Peertube channel, a Pixelfed account or a Lemmy community from your Mastodon account !!

All this is free without ads, developped and run by volonteers.

Awesomeness.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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This is the real power behind the fediverse! It continues to grow and evolve. It may eventually be a challenger to all social media.
xorman
xorman  
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Gitea is also integrating ActivityPub
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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I’m super excited about that! Federated code forges could end up being a really big deal in the space.
Brian Henry
Brian Henry  
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Thanks for sharing Sean. I had no idea.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
The network is a sprawling project, with nearly a decade of development behind it. It very well could end up being the future of the Internet.
Victor Vanchesa
Victor Vanchesa  
•
#Diaspora is still worth mentioning as a Facebook alternative.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Sadly, it’s really not. It doesn’t federate with most of the network. Every platform that federates with it had to reverse-engineer it pretty much on their own.

It’s not a bad app, but the current devs refuse to even try out ActivityPub.
opal hart
opal hart  
•
@vvanchesa sounds fine if diaspora is its own separate network, i personally dont get the mentality that everything has to be interoperable. it's definitely a facebook alternative still
@Victor Vanchesa
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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Yeah, they can definitely do their own thing. I just think they’d reap a lot of benefits if we could all federate.

As a former community manager that tried to get Diaspora to work with other projects or explore new protocols, I can’t help but feel a bit bitter about the outcome.
opal hart
opal hart  
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@vvanchesa do their discussions / threading map well to here, cus friendica kinda fucked up on that front and painted themselves as the black sheep of activitypub adopters
@Victor Vanchesa
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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It’s not impossible, but migrating a whole network would definitely be a huge undertaking.

With regards to Friendica, I feel like they mostly worked the kinks out. It took a lot of time and effort, and things like “reshares with additional comments on top” still look kind of janky, but it’s way better than it used to be.

I still have hope.
ₘᵣₒⱼₒ
ₘᵣₒⱼₒ  
•
"Replacement" is a strong word for some of those services. Facebook and YouTube have no replacement yet.
Pixelfed and Lemmy are great tho.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
I’ll concede that there are limitations (network effects, monetization) but as a platform, PeerTube is really solid. It just needs more creators on it.
Magnus Hedemark
Magnus Hedemark  
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until they have mobile apps in the mainstream app stores, we can’t have the “replacement” conversation.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Yeah, this is definitely something that could be better. That being said:
  • @pixelfed has an iOS app in beta, and may be doing the same for Android very very soon.
  • @funkwhale has an amazing client app on Android
  • @peertube has a few apps on Android, but they really need more developers, and are kind of unfinished
  • @LemmyDev actually has a brilliant mobile app called Lemmur, and it kind of already rivals the Reddit experience
The rest probably could benefit from good mobile clients, but they offer Open APIs to work with, and generally have good web interfaces for the interim.
@pixelfed @Lemmy @PeerTube @Funkwhale
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
It might be good to open an issue, they might be able to help: https://github.com/pfefferle/wordpress-activitypub

GitHub - pfefferle/wordpress-activitypub: ActivityPub for WordPress

ActivityPub for WordPress. Contribute to pfefferle/wordpress-activitypub development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
Day Mar 🌊
Day Mar 🌊  
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any full-length blogging platforms? 👀
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Closest I could find was WriteFreely and Plume, but they’re kind of sparse at the moment.

A plugin exists for WordPress, but I haven’t had much experience with setting it up these days. It worked for me in the past, though.

GitHub - pfefferle/wordpress-activitypub: ActivityPub for WordPress

ActivityPub for WordPress. Contribute to pfefferle/wordpress-activitypub development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
W.D. Clarke
W.D. Clarke  
•
I've just imported my most recent GR review into #BookWyrm, but wonder how to get it (or other services) to "interoperate" with my Mastodon?

https://bookrastinating.com/user/wdclarke/review/12873/s/lobster-lobes#anchor-12873
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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I was able to pull up a profile by converting a user’s address to a handle (user@domain.tld) and was able to at least pull in the profile.

That said, I couldn’t quite pull in any reviews, maybe it’s a different post type, or maybe I was trying to put in the wrong URL.
Robert Pickering
Robert Pickering  
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interesting, but Friendica, Pixelfed and BookWyrm all seem to want to create new accounts (not looked at the others yet). You can then link back to your Mastodon account?

Would be nice if you could sign in with the same account, but guess that's technically difficult.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
What I meant was that you can federate seamlessly with accounts on there. You don’t really authorize your Mastodon account onto a PixelFed server. Instead, you follow users on PixelFed from Mastodon, and see their photos in your timeline.
Magnus Hedemark
Magnus Hedemark  
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this is probably a really bad idea. One hobby server gets compromised and then all of your accounts are compromised? This is slightly more convenient for hackers than just using the same memorable password everywhere.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Yeah, as I said earlier, you don’t authorize your account to another platform. Instead, accounts on one platform can federate with another - you can watch PeerTube videos or see Pixelfed photos from Mastodon, and interact with those posts as if they were native.
Nick
Nick  
•
Friendica looks like a nice replacement. But what keeps me from using it is the absence of a 'general' server. I don't want to associate with a community I don't know anything about.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Generally, this is a challenge for federated communities. I have the benefit of having been in this space for nearly 15 years. My advice is to jump in with a pseudonym to try one out, and see what you find.

That being said, I do generally like Libranet.de.

LIBRANET.de | Home

Libranet.de
dbaman :python: ☁️
dbaman :python: ☁️  
•
Hello Sean.

A question please..

In your post what exact markup/steps did you use for the hyperlinks so the link is just the nice human text?

i.e. "Foo" as a the hyperlink
vs. "https://foo.com"
vs. <a href=www.foo.com>Foo</a>

I'm pretty familiar with html, but can't seem to work this out when I write a post and have a nice inline link.

I am using Tusky. Are you? Or maybe you use the mastadon app?

Any help appreciated...

@dbaman

Foo.com

foo.com
@dbaman :python: ☁️
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
So, I’m using a platform called Pleroma which is similar to Mastodon, but architecturally a little bit different. Pleroma allows me to customize my frontend, and also has support for Markdown formatting when I type posts.

Pleroma — a lightweight fediverse server

pleroma.social
icefyre
icefyre  
•
I thought the Goodreads replacement was Openlibrary?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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OpenLibrary is pretty good, but admittedly does not federate.

Bookwyrm, by contrast, does federate. Apparently, Inventaire also federates now (users have to opt-in, though).
A. Sebastian Dietzel 😎🥳
A. Sebastian Dietzel 😎🥳  
•
Would be awesome if all could use the same mastodon identity.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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Yeah, this has been a long-talked-about thing. It’s theoretically possible with ActivityPub Client-to-Server API, in the sense that you just run a bunch of frontends that just connect to the same account. It’s an area I’d like to explore more, as I continue to tinker with custom frontends for Pleroma.

Sadly, ActivityPub C2S adoption is kind of limited - Mastodon instead favors its own API for clients, partially because it’s more straightforward for implementors.

https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/#client-to-server-interactions

ActivityPub

The ActivityPub protocol is a decentralized social networking protocol based upon the [ActivityStreams] 2.0 data format.
www.w3.org
The Other Brook
The Other Brook  
•
I’d love to see an Amazon replacement on that list.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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I honestly have no idea what a full-blown Amazon replacement would even look like.

Do you just mean the book store part? 😛
Mirek Długosz 🕸️:python:🐛
Mirek Długosz 🕸️:python:🐛  
•
I wonder: how does the plain old blog with boring text-heavy articles fit in? Should we publish our content to #fediverse in addition to #RSS feed? Does ActivityPub-aware website enable us to do something cool or novel? What is theoretically possible?

Or are we stuck with posting links to websites, the same way we do since forever?
I would welcome any reading recommendations on the topic.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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There’s nothing wrong with using both. The main draw for ActivityPub integration with blogs is that you can receive replies (comments) directly from the fediverse itself, and people can read your blog posts directly from their social platforms.

People can also follow your blogs with their fediverse accounts and receive updates in their timelines.
Rebel :verified:
Rebel :verified:  
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is there a Pinterest replacement?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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I haven’t heard of one yet! But, with that being said…

I recall that the beginner’s course One Month Rails literally taught people how to code a very basic Pinterest site. Obviously, getting the federation part to work would require much more effort, but…it’s probably doable / might exist?
Rebel :verified:
Rebel :verified:  
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is there a link for that course? building an open source Pinterest would be interesting.
Caffe Neko
Caffe Neko  
•
Friendica is often described as a Facebook replacement but the UI honestly more closely resembles Livejournal
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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@caffeneko I'll admit, I have not used LiveJournal since 2004, and have no idea what it looks like now! 😂
@Caffe Neko
Peter Kraus
Peter Kraus  
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Stupid question: How does this interoperation work in practice? Do I need an account on every service I want to use? Is there a howto? #fediverse
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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@pkraus the short of it: you can follow accounts on different platforms from your own, and their stuff will appear natively in your timeline.

Slightly longer: the platforms I mentioned all use the ActivityPub protocol and have a degree of compatibility. A Mastodon user could, for example, follow a PeerTube channel, watch a video, reply to it from Mastodon, and their comment would appear natively on that video in PeerTube.
@Peter Kraus
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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@pkraus but no, you do not need an account on every service to follow accounts on those services.
@Peter Kraus
calligraffiti
calligraffiti  
•
Thanks for putting this list together.

If you don't mind the suggestion, PeerTube is just an app, not unlike [FreeTube](https://freetubeapp.io/), which works on the desktop. Have you looked into [Invidious](https://invidious.io/)?

Also, there's another Spotify alternative out there I very much like called [Resonate](https://resonate.coop/).

Invidious

Invidious is an open source alternative front-end to YouTube.
Invidious
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
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@calligraffiti the purpose of my list is that these are all federated apps that can allow Mastodon users to follow creators on their respective platforms. They aren't just apps, they are part of this ecosystem.

I'm afraid that none of the alternatives you've listed qualify on that specific criteria, though they are quite cool.
@calligraffiti
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@si2mev It's okay. My recommendation is to hang out, have fun, and explore the network. Over time, you'll get a hang of it.
@si2mev
Tiago Espinha
Tiago Espinha  
•
This is really cool :) thanks for sharing! As a Twitter migrant, I had no idea that the Fediverse was so developed.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@tiago There's still a fair amount of work to be done to make things smoother and more polished, but we've come a long way!
@Tiago Espinha
Jason Evangelho
Jason Evangelho  
•
Oh, this one is bookmarked. Thank you!
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:  
•
Meanwhile fediverse oldies:
Twitter replacement: GnuSocial
GnuSocial replacement: Pleroma, Mastodon
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:  
•
@thatbrickster @hj Nah, misskey is probably a replacement to some obscure Japanese social thing.
@great eepe :flag: @Bricky
Bricky
Bricky  
•
@lanodan It has isCat so it's intended to replace everything eventually.

@hj @sean
@Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: @Sean Tilley @great eepe :flag:
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:  
•
@hj @thatbrickster Never I guess, just add the cat ears on your avatar, or use some kind of frontend/client thing using emoji in display name or account field.
@great eepe :flag: @Bricky
Ignas Kiela
Ignas Kiela  
•
C2S AP + AP server that just stores whatever JSON-LD things are passed to it
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:  
•
@ignaloidas @hj @thatbrickster Which isn't was Pleroma does because we're not a spam server. :)
@Ignas Kiela @great eepe :flag: @Bricky
Lightning Bjornsson :evdonia_corner_emblem:
Lightning Bjornsson :evdonia_corner_emblem:  
•
@lanodan @ignaloidas @hj @thatbrickster Why would it be weird, and why would it be a usenet server (wouldn’t that be NNTP, not IMAP and OFMIP)?
@Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: @Ignas Kiela @great eepe :flag: @Bricky
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:  
•
@lightning @ignaloidas @hj @thatbrickster Because to me email with decent management of massive lists is Usenet.

(I hate mailing-lists so much on a technical perspective…)
@Ignas Kiela @great eepe :flag: @Bricky @Lightning Bjornsson :evdonia_corner_emblem:
great eepe :flag:
great eepe :flag:  
•
@lanodan @thatbrickster can we have the machine-readable profile fields at least?
@Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: @Bricky
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:  
•
@hj @thatbrickster Yeah, or at least fields that aren't part of the bio.
@great eepe :flag: @Bricky
Adam
Adam  
•
@perigee Same here. I need to find time to troubleshoot to try to narrow down the issue for a more-informative Github post. Maybe it's because I'm using an IIS server.
Jon
Jon  
•
i remember meeting you on Diaspora back in the day ... which means we've both been in the Fediverse since before there officially *was* a fediverse :)
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@jdp23 Actually, funny enough, the fediverse started with StatusNet. Identi.ca was the most popular instance for a very, very long time.

Welcome - Identi.ca

Identi.ca
@Jon
Jon
Jon  
•
but was it called the fediverse then? i was on identi.ca for a while but don't remember hearing the term either there or Diaspora
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@jdp23 You know, I don't think I really heard the term much until StatusNet became GNU Social. But, I believe the term was coined by Evan Prodromou at some point.
@Jon
Eric Redegeld
Eric Redegeld  
•
tiktoc replacement?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@redegelde Pixelfed has something called Moments, which is apparently capable of doing videos? It might be possible once the mobile app comes out.
@Eric Redegeld
Estelle Smith 🌟
Estelle Smith 🌟  
•
Wow, thanks for sharing this. I didn't know about it, but this is cool to find out about. Maybe I should update my upcoming grants... hmm.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@Longplay_Games Instagram used to be a place where people uploaded cool photos. People can still do that there, but there's tons of ads and spam now, and the app tries to do a million things after Facebook bought it. They pretty much made it a mini-Facebook.

Pixelfed is an alternative that's open source and uses the same stuff that Mastodon uses to let servers talk to each other, and because of this, Mastodon users can also follow Pixelfed users and vice versa.
Abel
Abel  
•
Invidious is also a pretty good replacement for YouTube ☺️
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@abel it's a great frontend for YouTube, but it still relies on YouTube. PeerTube is actually a federated platform for video that has no such dependency.
@Abel
David Bradley
David Bradley  
•
Whatever happened to Diaspora? That was meant to be *the* Facebook replacement, I seem to recall...
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@sciencebase I used to be the Community Manager. The project still exists, and is actively developed, but they are doing their own thing, and do not want to adopt ActivityPub.

It's completely community-run now, and no longer a startup. I wrote about my experience some here: https://deadsuperhero.com/planting-a-seed-diasporas-story-part-1/

I have yet to write a Part 2.

Planting a Seed: Diaspora’s Story (Part 1)

Things I learned from being Diaspora’s Community Manager.
Sean Tilley (DEAD SUPERHERO)
@David Bradley
Nando's Brain
Nando's Brain  
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czhd1eHv6ac

OOOOOH there a Youtube replacement! I don't really see how a spotify replacement can work due to copyright problems but I'll check it out later. =D

meme:OH MY GOD

YouTube
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@BroCrow I probably should have used more general language. It's more like an open source GrooveShark, where you can store your files privately on a server, and stream it to your mobile client.

That said, people do publicly share the music they made themselves on there! I put up a few tracks on Open Audio, a Creative Commons instance.

https://open.audio/channels/butterflydoom/

Butterfly Doom

Libre Music from the Commons
Open.Audio - Funkwhale
@Nando's Brain
stringer
stringer  
•
FunkWhale themselves say they aren’t a Spotify replacement. That comparison only works if everyone shares copyrighted content.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@stringer Yeah, it's more for private streaming of your own files. That being said, people do share their own creations publicly on it...

https://open.audio/channels/butterflydoom/

Butterfly Doom

Libre Music from the Commons
Open.Audio - Funkwhale
@stringer
Badger In His Sett
Badger In His Sett  
•
can you use the same account and have those feeds in the one place?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@Michael_J_Parry Well, you can use your Mastodon account to follow accounts in all of those places, and you'll see their stuff on your Mastodon timeline.
@Badger In His Sett
Lily :moth_trans:
Lily :moth_trans:  
•
Diaspora as well can work for Facebook or is that not on the Fediverse?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@CounselingTechie Diaspora federates, but not with most fediverse platforms. They are doing their own thing with their own protocol.
@Lily :moth_trans:
John Mark :blobcatverified: ☑️
John Mark :blobcatverified: ☑️  
•
is plume dead?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@johnmark it's been in maintenance mode for a long time...I think people are still working on it, but things are slow going?
@John Mark :blobcatverified: ☑️
SmartyPants
SmartyPants  
•
English, please?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@SmartyPants What people think of as "The Mastodon Network" is actually a lot bigger and a lot more diverse. There are a lot of servers running different programs than Mastodon, and offer different kinds of experiences. But they can still talk together as one network.
@SmartyPants
Jakub Urbanowicz
Jakub Urbanowicz  
•
Cheers, That's useful.
Are there any algorithms in mastodon?
Like when I respond to your toot, will I see your toots more often?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@jakuburbanowicz I think Mastodon just tries its best to keep things chronological.
@Jakub Urbanowicz
Rob 🏳️‍🌈 RMiddleton.Art
Rob 🏳️‍🌈 RMiddleton.Art  
•
I know that there are more options too. Just followed a link from here to Invidious, a video platform that looks terrific. (And some parts of the Fediverse do not yet look terrific, but I won't name names and I have confidence in the missions.) What do you think of the ones you've listed? Recommendations?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@RMiddleton Invidious is just a frontend client for YouTube. PeerTube is a fully-realized platform that actually federates.
@Rob 🏳️‍🌈 RMiddleton.Art
Spencer
Spencer  
•
I hadn't heard of Castopod, so thanks for this list!
Sheepie
Sheepie  
•
Are there any links on the interoperation between services? When I went to pixelfed it looked like it wan'ted to set up a new account.

I couldn't find a way to use my mastodon account or link the two? Didn't really seem that much like interoperability to me. Unless I'm missing something?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@bastardsheep You don't use your Mastodon account to log in to these services. The interoperability is through federation, meaning that your Mastodon account can follow people on Pixelfed, PeerTube, etc, and be able to interact with their stuff from Mastodon.
@Sheepie
Spencer
Spencer  
•
To add to this, imagine being able to follow your friend's Instagram posts from Twitter, and when you tweet a comment in response, it automatically shows up on Instagram.

That's sorta what this is describing. You can like, follow, or comment on the "Instagrams" and "YouTubes" of this network without ever logging into a separate account. The activity on these different services can all end up in your unified feed.

If you want to post your own "Instagram-like" photos and use that app's features, you'll need to register an account on an instance running that service.
Ryan Peters
Ryan Peters  
•
try this, next time you see a #peertube or #pixelfed (or any other federated URL), copy and paste it into your mastodon search bar. It'll find the account and let you follow it. So, you don't log in to THEIR server, but rather you remain on yours and follow them (from yours). It's fucking beautiful.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Try this one on for size: https://vidcommons.org/w/xeQeWbFDhLvJSmdZoGe9sW

The Big Trail (1930)

ABOUT THE FILM The Big Trail is a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh.
The VidCommons Project
FrankFlobster
FrankFlobster  
•
Thanks. But of course, I have questions.

If I was to join one of those, would it mean that my Mastodon address changed?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@FrankFlobster No. If you joined one of these services, you'd just have another account.

These platforms use the same communication protocol to talk to each other. You can follow any user that's on one of these platforms directly from Mastodon, and interact with them from your home timeline. This includes seeing their posts.
@FrankFlobster
FrankFlobster
FrankFlobster  
•
Cool, but to actually use one of them (eg Book Wyrm reading logs), I'd have to log-in with a different account?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@FrankFlobster Yes. There's some ongoing research in being able to do this kind of stuff with one account using the ActivityPub Client to Server API, but few platforms currently support that.
@FrankFlobster
Shonin
Shonin  
•
Zoom replacement? 😘
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
You’ve got a few options.

Element is capable of video calls, and is a federated system using the @matrix protocol.

Jitsi is a bit more Zoom-like, and is pretty easy to use! Not federated, but totally open source.

Nextcloud Talk is a video conferencing platform that integrates directly into the Nextcloud platform. Open source, capable of federation with other Nextcloud servers, tons of benefits from the rest of the Nextcloud platform.

Element | Secure collaboration and messaging

Element is a Matrix-based end-to-end encrypted messenger and secure collaboration app. It’s decentralised for digital sovereign self-hosting, or through a hosting service such as Element Matrix Services.
element.io
@The Matrix.org Foundation
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Yes, they use the same activity types. A lot of photographers prefer to use something like Pixelfed for their work. The benefit is that you can follow those accounts from Mastodon, and see / interact with their photos from your own timeline, rather than needing to log into Pixelfed.
RAIJIN RISING | GhostSecGroup™
RAIJIN RISING | GhostSecGroup™  
•
I keep seeing Owncast pop up as a podcasting/streaming alternative.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Yeah, OwnCast is amazing! I think its streaming is also compatible with PeerTube, which can also do streaming?

OBS works brilliantly with both projects.
Jürgen Hubert
Jürgen Hubert  
•
Missing: A Dating App replacement.

I am only half kidding.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@juergen_hubert actually, there are two projects for fediverse dating apps already.

https://github.com/lafnlab/Amore

https://github.com/Alovoa/alovoa

GitHub - lafnlab/Amore: Amore is/will be dating app software for the Fediverse.

Amore is/will be dating app software for the Fediverse. - GitHub - lafnlab/Amore: Amore is/will be dating app software for the Fediverse.
GitHub
@Jürgen Hubert
Spencer
Spencer  
•
Whoa. That's blowing my mind.
Ben Smith
Ben Smith  
•
Thank you for this.

How do you manage all the different identities you get with these services? Should my Mastodon ID boost my Pixelfed images (for example) or can I use one identity across all of them?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
There isn’t a great solution yet. One workaround, as you put it, is to boost your stuff that you posted elsewhere. It’s a bit tedious, though.

A unified solution is something that I’d love to see, but requires platforms / clients to adopt the ActivityPub Client-to-Server API to make that happen. Unfortunately, it’s not as practical as the Mastodon API that most projects use instead.

A few projects support C2S, so I’m currently exploring the possibility of building unique clients that show different types of posts, with all the data living in one place, under one account.
Xerz~! :blobcathearttrans:
Xerz~! :blobcathearttrans:  
•
(ngl Client-to-Server sounds exactly like SMTP…)
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Yeah, I’ve heard it compared to either SMTP or IMAP before. It’s actually not bad to work with at all, but requires a different way of thinking about how to put things together.

It would actually be an interesting experience to write an email-like frontend that exclusively uses C2S.
John
John  
•
You can also replace Facebook with #Hubzilla.
https://hubzilla.org//page/hubzilla/hubzilla-project

Hubzilla | Hubzilla - hubzilla@hubzilla.org

Hubzilla is a powerful platform for creating interconnected websites featuring a decentralized identity, communications, and permissions framework built using common webserver technology.
hubzilla.org
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Hubzilla is absolutely incredible, but is also probably one of the most complex / advanced projects in the entire fediverse. It really needs some UX love. If you’re a power user and have the time to configure it, though, you can build some really wild stuff with it.
(((Baslow)))
(((Baslow)))  
•
You might want to consider adding
https://writefreely.org/
to your list

WriteFreely

Minimalist, federated, self-hosted blogging platform.
WriteFreely
(((Baslow)))
(((Baslow)))  
•
...and I see you did. I blame the current lag time on mastodon.social for having missed it before posting.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
It’s quite alright! It’s kind of a lengthy thread at this point, and not everybody can see every part of it right away. Because of this, I’m more than happy to explain things as many times as I’m asked something. 🙂
…ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ jesuisatire bitPickup
…ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ jesuisatire bitPickup  
•
and not everybody can see every part of it right away.


@Sean Tilley probably learned that a decade ago on D* @(((Baslow))) :)

Looks like this is make it or break it for the #activitypub protocol and the federation. With some luck we'll loose the overdopamined freaks on the way, those who can't get that sometimes machines just have kinda own life.

Do we have some server load recommendation data and active user comparisons?
Looks like some server are reaching the million user mark?
Should we ask for a call for registry stop for the existing servers, could be even a nice publicity stunt:
"Mastodon closes it's doors, the dance floor is full, make your own instance to join with your followers!"
Image/photo

@Eugen 💀
@Santiago
#ActivityPub @Sean Tilley @(((Baslow))) @Eugen Rochko @Santiago
xiled
xiled  
•
Don't forget web log and mental focus replacements: #gopher #gemini #smolnet
#gemini #gopher #smolnet
Marguerite Efdé
Marguerite Efdé  
•
thanks for the list - I made a link to your toot in my blog about the fediverse. I hope that's ok??
Strypey
Strypey  
•
Great to see you active in the 'verse again and thanks for sharing this list with newbies, but...

@sean
> Facebook replacement: Friendica

... it's really not fair to Friendica to keep making this comparison. Neither the feature set nor the UI of Friendica are anything like modern FB, so calling it a FB replacement just sets people up for disappointment and poor first impressions. IMHO We don't yet have a complete, federated replaced for FB and it's better to just be honest about that.
@Sean Tilley
Paul Sutton
Paul Sutton  
•
@strypey
I agree here, we need to be careful with wording.

Rather than saying Friendica is a facebook replacement, we should perhaps think about the services within facebook it does or can replace and promote that.

Of course a lot of people would leave facebook, only they are unable to as they are in touch with people on there who also won't leave due to specific groups or friends.
@Strypey
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
I guess that’s fair. I just tend to see Friendica’s current resign as very reminiscent of what was good about Facebook’s UI prior to the Big Bad Redesign where it now looks like a PlaySkool interface.

I still think Friendica is a totally viable replacement, if you cut out the chat, games, zillions of client apps, marketplace, moments, and their video offerings.

Yeah, I guess they are pretty different nowadays.
Strypey
Strypey  
•
> if you cut out the chat, games, zillions of client apps, marketplace, moments, and their video offerings

In other words, ignore the vast majority of the features people use FB for, then the comparison holds. This is kind of my point ;)

Friendica definitely offers things that Mastodon and other micro-posting platforms don't and it's well worth promoting. I just think if we're promoting fedi tools as replacements for datafarms, there must be a more accurate comparison for Friendica.
Dave Waghorn
Dave Waghorn  
•
I joined Diaspora* a few years ago and I'm a little surprised to not see it on the list. Is that seen as a rival to these Fediverse apps?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
My main motivation was to provide a list of platforms that can all federate together through ActivityPub. Sadly, Diaspora is not interested in adopting that protocol, and can only talk to a few other platforms on the network (Friendica, Hubzilla, and Socialhome come to mind)
Martijn Vos
Martijn Vos  
•
@Dave Waghorn @Sean Tilley Diaspora is not part of the fediverse. It doesn't use ActivityPub (the fediverse protocol) but has its own protocol. Friendica and Hubzilla can work with both.
@Sean Tilley @Dave Waghorn

grin doesn't like this.

silverwizard
silverwizard  
The fediverse is older than ActivityPub
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
I’m writing up a guide to better articulate this, but I’ll give you the short version.

Accounts on the fediverse can talk to each other through federation. If you’re familiar with RSS and feed readers, take that concept and extend it in such a way that the user receiving stuff can directly respond to whatever is in their feed. Instead of just blog posts, it’s also interactions.

Now: every one of the services I listed has user accounts on them. From your side on Mastodon, you can directly follow PeerTube creators making videos, FunkWhale users uploading music, and Pixelfed users sharing photos. In fact, most of these things can directly receive your replies, and turn them into comments on the other side for the creator to see.

Try this: take these links, copy and paste them into your search bar on Mastodon, and watch how they get pulled in as results that you can view and interact with:

Peertube Video: https://spectra.video/w/kMjshXEGwBiukJNREbVFRt

Pixelfed Image: https://pixelfed.social/i/web/post/490713952376564993

Funkwhale track: https://open.audio/library/tracks/112511/

You don’t need an account in these other places to view or interact with these things. You can do it all from the comfort of your Mastodon feed.

Butterfly Doom - I'll Remember You

Butterfly Doom is a Creative Commons electronic rock project that I started a few years back, with an EP that I released last year called Hello, Cruel World.
Spectra
Jutta Eckstein
Jutta Eckstein  
•
Is there also a recommended slack replacement?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
It’s not perfect on the moderation side, but @matrix offers a really great client for web, desktop, and mobile called Element

Element | Secure collaboration and messaging

Element is a Matrix-based end-to-end encrypted messenger and secure collaboration app. It’s decentralised for digital sovereign self-hosting, or through a hosting service such as Element Matrix Services.
element.io
@The Matrix.org Foundation
0xBrewing
0xBrewing  
•
what about Discord alternative?.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
It’s not perfect on the moderation side, but @matrix offers a really great client for web, desktop, and mobile called Element

Element | Secure collaboration and messaging

Element is a Matrix-based end-to-end encrypted messenger and secure collaboration app. It’s decentralised for digital sovereign self-hosting, or through a hosting service such as Element Matrix Services.
element.io
@The Matrix.org Foundation
teledyn 𓂀
teledyn 𓂀  
•
Does #pixelfed do hashtag feeds like mastodon?

As a performing artist, currently most interaction we get is Ig, we're busy, but the audience uses hashtags that we then can boost (share) or pin (story) often from our phones during a break.

Assuming tavern-going folk take to a federated pixelfed and have the app at the ready, would this work the same?

We've been known to have the sousaphone player #livestream from his phone, too. Would that work with P2P streams?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
Yes, Pixelfed uses hashtags and has a pretty neat discovery system built in!
Teaching While Disabled
Teaching While Disabled  
•
dumb newbie question: Do I follow myself on those other accounts? Tag myself in posts?Or just pop in an out of them as if they were separate social media platforms?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@LowlyAdjunct You can follow yourself, I do that to boost content I made in other places into my personal timeline here. But, you don't need a new account to follow people on other platforms - if I follow a Pixelfed photographer from this account, I'll see their photos and comments, and be able to interact with both! They will also be able to see any photos I posted from my end.
@Teaching While Disabled
Ivan 🎧
Ivan 🎧  
•
A very quick challenge here with no intent to offend. Funkwhale is not a Spotify replacement. If anyone claims it was, how do they license the music content being posted? I have read their T&Cs and they are basically transferring responsibility to the end user which is beyond grey. Aren't both signed and independent artists rewarded for the usage of their work? I couldn't find a framework or agreement between artists and producers and Funkwhale either. This would constitute theft.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@ivan No, you're right. I got called on it further up the thread. It's more comparable to GrooveShark, in that you can upload music to a server and listen to it from your device. Still, I consider personal streaming of one's own media a type of replacement.
@Ivan 🎧
naught101
naught101  
•
what is it about Friendica makes it like Facebook?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@naught101 long-form posting, lots of utilities based around contact management, groups. In truth, it's closer to the Facebook of maybe 2015, but yeah, it's harder to draw a comparison to the newer designs.
@naught101
Shoq
Shoq  
•
And what about Chat? I am currently using element.io, an awesome matrix client, but I am hesitant to to expose newbies to that product until it's UX is friendlier.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@shoq Yeah, I'm at a loss on this one. I think Element is viable, but there are still plenty of rough edges.
@Shoq
Lindsay Wardell 🏳️‍⚧️
Lindsay Wardell 🏳️‍⚧️  
•
What does "interoperate with your Mastodon account" mean in this context? How do they relate to each other besides using the ActivityPub protocol?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@lindsaykwardell A pretty good explanation can be found here: https://social.deadsuperhero.com/notice/APSqJ9uzn2Pk29QPXU

Sean Tilley (@sean@social.deadsuperhero.com)

I’m writing up a guide to better articulate this, but I’ll give you the short version.Accounts on the fediverse can talk to each other through federation. If you’re familiar with RSS and feed reade...
social.deadsuperhero.com
@Lindsay Wardell 🏳️‍⚧️
benjamin melançon
benjamin melançon  
•
how would i go about using BookWyrm from my Mastodon account here, for an example?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@mlncn That's a good one! The short answer is that generally, you don't. Bookwyrm requires you to have an account on there to make reviews.

That said, you can follow that subsequent Bookwyrm account from Mastodon!
@benjamin melançon
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@DaytonTUphold no, it's more akin to GrooveShark, where you stream your own music library from the cloud to a mobile client.

That being said, some musicians upload and share their work in public libraries that you can federate with and listen to.
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@srijit MissKey is awesome! The design work on that project is amazing.
@Srijit Kumar Bhadra
cackalackdev
cackalackdev  
•
awesome list Sean, ty!

can you tell me how you made href links?
Sean Tilley
Sean Tilley  
•
@cackalackdev The platform I use for federation ( Pleroma ) is different from Mastodon, and allows me to use Markdown.

Pleroma — a lightweight fediverse server

pleroma.social
@cackalackdev
⇧