Into the Fediverse
Issue 221: We need decentralized social networks
Decentralized social networks are a concept I’ve been interested in for years. The federation of social networks is also known as the Fediverse. Contrary to the name, the Fediverse’s namesake has nothing to do with Britney Spear’s ex, Kevin Federline. The Verge offers a clear description of the experience of the Fediverse:
The fediverse is as if you took X, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook and made them all interoperable so you could post anything from anywhere, and all your followers would be guaranteed to see it. And if you wanted to leave one platform for another, you could bring all your content, all your followers, all your everything with you.
My interest in the Fediverse started in 2018 with the introduction of ActivityPub and the existential question, “What is the town square of the internet?” Whether creators of social networks knew it or not, apps like Facebook and Twitter became large media platforms people relied on for news. I vividly remember reading the news about United Airways Flight 1549 crashing in the Hudson River on Twitter. There are so many memories on Twitter: The Bronx Zoo Cobra, the Blue and Black Dress, and of course, presidential elections in the United States.
Politics has been a loaded topic on social networks, and it seems the perspective fluctuates depending on which political party holds office. The reason I’m bullish on the Fediverse is I want to de-platform; not an individual—everybody. One of the most interesting essays I’ve read is from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University titled “Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech.”
My belief is it is not about scaling a platform that reflects my point of view, but protocols that facilitate what I care most about. I’m bullish on the Fediverse, but we’re far away from mass adoption. The user experience is not optimal. Because of the system of the federation of social networks, there are a lot of steps to provision, onboard, and set up accounts. The advantage of monolithic social networks of Web 2.0 is the entire experience is centralized.
People are accustomed to existing behaviors and the speed to sign up for a Facebook account is drastically quicker than setting up a Mastodon account and server. This also results in performance being lackluster. For example, when I load Openvibe, it has to fetch all the posts from the federated networks. Though it’s a technical constraint, it adds friction to the experience. However, I believe this will get better overtime; similar to how people often say this is the worst AI is going to be.
The future experience
Let's speculate on the possible future of a decentralized social network. I'll caveat that what's shared might be feasible today with me unknowingly manifesting it.
Universal profile
The Gravatar still comes to mind as the closest thing to a universal profile on the web. The crypto wallet can be this, but it’s too early. The rise of the Fediverse allows the standardization of profiles used across other networks/products. Currently, I need to have an account for every social network and use an app like Openvibe to publish at all places. In an ideal world, it would be one account with posts all derived from that single account.
Apps as views
In Ruben Verborgh’s Paradigm shifts for the decentralized Web, apps as views is compelling. Imagine a world where you can take your universal profile and “visit” X.com, Bluesky, Mastodon, or a network of your choice. Having choices in different app experiences within specific products allows further customization. For example, I prefer Ivory by the iconic Tapbots team for Mastodon experiences.
Algorithms as controllers
Finally, we need to de-couple the algorithm. The reason people decide to join (or leave) social networks is the content that gets recommended to them. The ability to decentralize the algorithm improves preferences and a curation of what you want to see. Elon Musk has shared his belief in decentralized social networks with custom algorithms, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Ownership in your expression
I don't know if the creators of social networks knew the implications of world events on their platforms, especially when it comes to politics. Whether we like it or not, it is like any other type of media that includes bias and an agenda. There is no way around the bias and it takes the form of the product. People are now going direct and it's more important than ever to own your content. It's one of the reasons I've been blogging more on a self-hosted site.
I hope to connect with people and topics I care about without the influxes and exoduses. A federated network fosters an intentional internet of what matters most to you. I'm rooting for this space and hope it continues to evolve.
Hyperlinks + notes
A collection of references for this post, updates, and weekly reads.
Readwise → Now that Omnivore is shutting down, I’m giving Readwise a try
Transformers One → I watched this film last night and enjoyed it so much!
OpenVibe → Decentralized social timeline on iOS and Android
Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech
10 Must-Try Apps in the Fediverse for the Decentralized Social Media Revolution
David, you should check out farcaster.xyz. It’s another decentralized social platform but built on Ethereum. I’m less interested in the crypto aspect, more on resilience and decentralization of protocols. A lot of interesting people and experiments happening on the there. I think you’d enjoy it. We could use more designers on it too!