Fediverse

For the past two years, Radio Free Fedi has held a special place in my heart. The community operation started as a small experiment, but quickly grew into a Fediverse institution. In the time that it was operational, the station served as the place for discovering awesome music throughout the network. Unfortunately, this beloved project has run out of time.

Community hostility shuts down hobby project.

Openvibe’s clever app that integrates multiple open social networks including Bluesky, Mastodon, Nostr, and Threads, just got a boost toward its future development. The company on Tuesday announced that it has received outside investment of $800,000 in a round led by Czech Founders VC, which includes backing from WordPress.com and Tumblr parent company, Automattic, as well as Tensor Ventures.

After years of hardcore development, the Pixelfed project is taking a big next step by seeking crowdfunding dollars on Kickstarter.

Before there was social media, there were internet forums. Millions of forum sites continue to operate, which is why it’s notable that one top forum software provider, NodeBB, is now joining the fediverse, also known as the open social web.

Will Instagram Threads truly integrate with the fediverse, also known as the open social web, to allow its users to interact with people on other services like Mastodon and to move their account elsewhere if they decide that Meta’s policies are no longer to their liking? Today that answer remains murky. Meta cannot yet confirm if or when account portability features will be added to its roadmap and federation plans for the newer social network.

Today on Equity, Mastodon's CEO joins us to discuss what Meta's policy changes mean for users and how decentralized social media platforms could offer a viable alternative to mainstream giants.

Pixelfed, a decentralized alternative to Instagram, has launched its official mobile apps. The service today runs on the same ActivityPub protocol that powers open source X alternative Mastodon, YouTube competitor PeerTube, and other decentralized social apps, now including Meta’s Threads and Flipboard (plus its newer app, Surf), that are part of a growing push toward a more open social web known as the fediverse.

FediMeteo brings real-time weather updates to the Fediverse, covering cities across multiple countries. Explore country-specific weather forecasts and RSS feeds.

Flipboard has unleashed Surf, a new kind of social app that combines a Feed Reader with a Feed Builder, with Social Interactions sprinkled in.

Bridgy Fed, which is working to connect the social network Bluesky with the wider fediverse (i.e., the open social web), which includes sites like Mastodon and others, will be the first app incubated within a new nonprofit called A New Social. The organization, announced Tuesday, aims to bring together developers, researchers, startups, and industry leaders building infrastructure for the open social web, including those adopting protocols like Bluesky’s AT Protocol and ActivityPub, which powers Mastodon, Meta’s Threads, and the rest of the fediverse.