Tag: fediverse

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ActivityPub is revolutionizing social media

I have been a Mastodon user for nearly six years. I started on Fosstodon and have since moved to Mastodon. social but that’s unimportant because both Mastodon instances are connected with the ActivityPub protocol. ActivityPub is a protocol created for decentralized social networking which enables seamless communication between different servers. I can make a post on Fosstodon that is shared across the entire Fediverse regardless of which instance I shared it. This enables sharing across multiple platforms without having each function as a walled garden. That is the vision of ActivityPub.

This gives users more control and freedom over their social media experience. Instead of being confined to a single platform, ActivityPub allows users to interact across interconnected services. You can easily connect and communicate with others whether you are on Mastodon, Peertube, Pixelfed, or any service that implements ActivityPub.

ActivityPub empowers users to host their servers, ensuring data privacy and ownership. ActivityPub provides the opportunity to move to a more open, user-centric internet where a few large corporations do not hold control.

In addition to my accounts on Mastodon that communicate with each other with ActivityPub, I also have an account on Pixelfed, and this blog connects to the Fediverse with the ActivityPub protocol so that every time I add a new blog post, it is shared to the broader federated network. That is because there is an ActivityPub plugin for WordPress.

Here’s a list of ActivityPub services along with descriptions of their functionalities:

For a complete list of services and sites that ActivityPub enables, consult this curated list and join the Fediverse.

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Pixelfed’s Charm: A Haven for Creatives

I’ve been interested in photography since I co-opted my father’s Kodak 620 camera as a young boy. I used it to take pictures of the flora and fauna of our neighborhood. My love of photography led me to an Instamatic camera in high school and eventually to digital cameras as they entered the marketplace in the late 1990s. Now, I use an iPhone 15 to snap pictures of scenes that inspire me. I started using Instagram in 2011 when my daughter suggested it. I have over 4800 posts, but increasingly, the platform is driven by algorithms prompting me to buy products or serve me AI-generated images that fail to capture my imagination.

What if there was a social media platform that is as vibrant and visual as Instagram but without constant ads, data mining, and profit-driven motives? Enter Pixelfed—a decentralized, open-source alternative offering fresh air in social networking. Whether you are a seasoned photographer, an aspiring artist, or a social media enthusiast seeking a more ethical and community-focused platform, Pixelfed provides a visually stunning way to share your moments and connect with like-minded individuals.

Joining Pixelfed is easy! Go to the Pixelfed flagship instance Pixelfed.social and choose sign-in with Mastodon.

Screen picture by Don Watkins CC by SA 4.0

Your avatar, bio, username, and followed accounts from Mastodon will be automatically imported, saving you time and effort. The Pixelfed blog documents the process for signing in with your Mastodon account.

Once logged in to the web, you can choose the ‘Discover’ button on the left and find other Pixelfed users. It’s easy to upload pictures to your account from your web browser or from an app on your phone. Pixelfed supports both iOS and Android users.

Screen picture by Don Watkins CC by SA 4.0

Import your content directly from Instagram, or you can host Pixelfed if that interests you.

Pixelfed allows you to share your pictures with a broader audience without sacrificing privacy. It doesn’t track your activity or show ads. You have more control over your data and who can see your posts. Community-driven: Each Pixelfed instance has its own community and moderators, creating a more intimate and engaging experience. It’s decentralized, which means Pixelfed is spread across many different servers called instances. Pixelfed connects to the broader Fediverse, allowing communication with users on other ActivityPub-based networks like Mastodon. You control who sees what. You can share images, follow others, and interact across different Pixelfed instances. Pixelfed offers a more ethical and empowering way to connect with others online.

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From web to client: The Mastodon experience

Mastodon is an open-source social networking platform for microblogging. While it has a web-based interface, many users prefer to use a client to access Mastodon. Clients are programs or applications that allow users to access and interact with the Mastodon platform from various devices, including computers, tablets, and phones. I moved to Fosstodon in 2019, and it has become my primary social networking site.

Web Interface

Like most users, I started using the Mastodon web app by pointing my browser at joinmastodon.org. I found an instance to join, created an account, and logged in. I used the web app to read, like, and reblog posts from my favorite Mastodon users. I also replied to posts without ever having to install anything locally. It was a familiar experience based on other social media websites.

The disadvantage of the web app is that it lacks the richness of a dedicated Mastodon client. Clients provide a more organized and streamlined interface, which makes it easier to navigate, manage notifications, and interact with others in the fediverse. Clients also make it easier to find and generate useful hashtags, which are essential to sharing your message in a non-algorithm-driven environment.

Mastodon is open source, though, so you have options. In addition to the web apps, there are a number of Mastodon clients. According to Mastodon, there are nearly sixty clients for Mastodon available for desktop, tablet or phone.

Clients

Each client app has its own unique features, UI design, and functionality. But they all ultimately provide access to the Mastodon platform:

I started my client journey with the Mastodon app for iOS. The app is easy to use and is open source. The app is written in Swift. It is the official iOS app for Mastodon.

I moved to MetaText which is no longer being developed. I liked the Metatext interface. It made interacting with Mastodon easier on my iPhone. Metatext is open source with a GPL v3 license.

I am currently using Ice Cubes which is my favorite Mastodon app for both iOS and MacOS. Ice Cubes has everything I was looking for in a Mastodon client. Crafted using SwiftUI technology exclusively, this application boasts impressive speed, minimal resource consumption, as well as user-friendly functionality. It features an intuitive design framework on iOS devices like iPhone/iPad and MacOS systems.

My favorite desktop Linux app for Mastodon is Tuba. It is available as a Flatpak. It’s intuitive and easy to use. Tuba is open source with a GPL v3 license.

Screen picture by Don Watkins CC by SA 4.0

How is Mastodon changing your reading habits? What are your favorite apps? Be sure to comment.

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The Fediverse is rich

I am really enjoying the Fediverse and what it has to offer. That doesn’t just apply to the instance that happen to belong to either. There are so many rich conversations from all over. I am interested in open source in the broadest sense of that word which includes Linux of course which is my daily driver. I am also interested in open education and open educational resources, Python, libraries, educational technology, open organizations, Creative Commons and more. I have found all of that here and the best part of this experience is that it is not driven by an algorithm. This morning I was thinking how grateful I am that I was literally driven here against my will. I haven’t left Twitter entirely but my focus has definitely shifted. If you are new to Mastodon as I am and you are looking for help I suggest you follow Fedi.Tips.

If you are new to the Fediverse I suggest you take a look at this help for beginners. Consider following the Fediverse group which is a community dediated to Fediverse news and discussion.

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Welcome to the Fediverse

Three years ago when I first signed up for a Fosstodon account I really had no comprehension of what a wonderful universe of learning I was getting involved with. Fast forward three years and the impending erosion or collapse of the birdsite and I’m reevaluating my use of social media. I had forgotten how great it was to be with folks who posted interesting content and were more interested and engaged with what I was sharing too. I’m still a neophyte in this federated blogging world but already I can appreciate the richness of what is offered.

I am only beginning to appreciate what it means to be federated and to enjoy what the fediverse has to offer. I spent much of a good deal of my work years in public education and while I was there I worked as a school district technology leader and a classroom teacher who specialized in keyboarding, coding, staff development and digital citizenship. In addition to that I worked as a system administrator for Windows, LInux and LInux servers some of which existed as virtual machines. That unique mix of teacher and technology administrator left me with a broad skill set that I still enjoy today.

The district that I worked didn’t always have robust funding and that sent me looking for innovative solutions for teachers and students. Discussion outside of the classroom and insights from friends led me to consider Linux and open source as viable alternatives for education. I have found in the past almost twenty-five years that open source can provide answers and opportunities not found in proprietary solutions. WordPress is one of those open source gifts. When our school was struggling to afford software for our students and staff that provided a common platform for discussion I saw WordPress as that medium and I continue to believe that WordPress could easily be used in many PK12 classroom and could easily be used in most educational settings to provide an inexpensive and flexible program for home and school interaction.

I see some of those same possibilities with Mastodon and the federated blogging that it supports. At this point Mastodon has not seemed to make as many inroads into PK12 as it has into higher education. I hope that can change. I am recommending it to all of my personal learning network who are still mostly stuck at the birdsite. How can we get the word out to those folks in a way that doesn’t disparage what they are currently using. I think it’s possible to use Twitter and Mastodon. I don’t see it as an either/or but a both/and universe.