On most social networks, one company owns everything: the app, the servers, the rules and your followers. The fediverse works differently. It is a network of thousands of independent servers, run by different people and organizations, that can still talk to each other.

The easiest comparison is email. You can have a Gmail address and still write to someone on Outlook, because both follow the same rules. In the fediverse, those shared rules are a standard called ActivityPub.

The standard underneath

ActivityPub was published as an official recommendation by the W3C, the body behind many core web standards, in 2018. It describes how one server tells another that someone posted, followed, liked or replied. Any app that speaks ActivityPub can join the conversation.

Mastodon and friends

Mastodon is the best-known fediverse app. It looks a lot like the Twitter of a few years ago, but each server, often called an instance, sets its own rules and moderates its own members. Your address includes your server, something like @maria@example.social, and you can follow people on any other server.

There are fediverse apps for other formats too: photo sharing, long-form blogging, book reviews and video.

Threads joins in

The biggest recent name to join is Meta’s Threads. In March 2024 it began a beta that let users in the United States, Canada and Japan opt in to sharing their posts to the fediverse, and it later opened the option to more than 100 countries. Fediverse users can find and follow opted-in Threads profiles. Not everyone welcomed it: some server admins chose to block Threads entirely.

Bluesky, often mentioned in the same breath, uses a different protocol called the AT Protocol. Bridges exist between the two networks, but they are not natively the same system.

Choosing a server

This is the step that puts people off, but it matters less than it seems.

  1. Pick a server whose topic or language fits you, or a large general one if you are not sure.
  2. Read its rules and how it handles moderation, because that is what you are really choosing.
  3. Don’t overthink it. On Mastodon you can move to another server later and bring your followers with you, although your old posts stay behind.

Good to know

  • There is no central algorithm deciding what you see. Most feeds are chronological.
  • Servers can block other servers, so a few corners of the network may not be visible from yours.
  • Most servers are run by volunteers or small nonprofits, and many rely on donations.

Moderation works differently

On a big platform, one company writes the rules and one trust-and-safety team enforces them for everyone. In the fediverse, each server’s admins and moderators handle reports from their own members and decide which other servers to connect to. A well-run server can respond quickly and know its community personally. A badly run one can be slow or inconsistent. That is why reading a server’s rules, and how active its moderators seem, matters more than its name.

Finding people to follow

The first week can feel quiet, because there is no algorithm pushing popular accounts at you. A few things help:

  1. Follow hashtags for topics you care about. On Mastodon, followed hashtags appear in your home feed.
  2. Look at who the people you already know are following, and borrow generously.
  3. Write a short introduction post with the #introduction hashtag. Many fediverse users welcome newcomers this way.
  4. Boost, which is the fediverse’s version of reposting, posts you like. It helps others find you too.

Is it private?

Not by default. Public posts are copied to every server that has followers of yours, and direct messages on Mastodon are visible to the admins of the servers involved. Treat fediverse direct messages like an ordinary social network, not a secure messenger.

What we think

The fediverse is less polished than the big platforms, and finding people to follow takes more effort at first.

What you get in return is real: nobody can sell the network out from under you, and if you dislike how your server is run, you can leave without losing your audience. That trade is worth making for a growing number of people.