I plan to write an “Introduction to the #Fediverse “ article for my website. It’s intended for people who came to my website for the folk tales, and had no prior experience with the Fediverse
Here is a first draft. Can you give me some feedback on what I should improve? #FediHelp
= Folklore on the Fediverse =
More than half of the world’s population are estimated to use social media in one form or another. However, the current state of social media leaves much to be desired. The richest man in the world uses the platforms he owns to openly support racism and fascism. The others are hardly better - they flood users’ feed with posts that are sure to upset them, in order to trigger responses and thus increase “engagement” and ad revenue.
But there is an alternative to the commercial platforms, their algorithms, and their hidden and not-so-hidden agendas: The Fediverse.
Instead of centralized system under the authority of a single provider, it consists of a multitude of servers (called “instances”) owned by different people and organizations which communicate with each other using a common protocol - similar to how email servers have communicated since the earliest days of the Internet. As long as their instances have connected each other, each user can follow, like, boost, and comment on the post of any other users. There is no algorithm that can be manipulated by outside forces, just people talking to each other.
As a folklorist, I am deeply appreciative of this approach. The oral folk tales I study were likewise told peer to peer, without any central authority who set the tone what is acceptable and what is not. Some folk tales became “viral” and spread across Europe in one form or another, while others languished in obscurity. But while the authorities (ecclesiastical, secular, intellectual…) tried to promote their own view of the world, the amateur storytellers of the countryside always had their own ideas on what stories to share.
The Fediverse is not free of problems, but it captures the essence of peer to peer sharing of stories and information better than any of the commercial platforms.
= Where to start =
The Fediverse has a multitude of expressions, and choosing the system you are using will have consequences for what you can and cannot do with it (though there is no reason why you should limit yourself to one system). Possible options include:
- Microblogging: Mastodon, Misskey, Plermoma
- Image sharing: Pixelfed
- Video sharing: Peertube
- Complex social networking: Friendica
- Discussion forum: lemmy
and many others. It is even possible to turn a WordPress site into its own Fediverse-compatible system (which is what you are reading now) with the right plugin, allowing other Fediverse users to share and comment it from their own accounts. All these systems are broadly compatible - for instance, if you have a Mastodon account, you can follow someone with a Pixelfed account and see, share, and comment on their pictures even though they are on a completely different server.
== First Steps ==
If you have had no prior contact with the Fediverse, I recommend starting out with a Mastodon account. Mastodon is the single most popular Fediverse implementation, it is not overly complex to use, and it is well-supported and regularly updated. Once you have gathered some experience with how the Fediverse works, you can always try out another system.
== Why the instance does not matter… ==
The single biggest hurdle many newcomers have is picking an instance for their account. But there is no reason to stress too much about this choice. As a reminder, all Fediverse instances can connect with each other, so even if you pick a particular instance, you can still follow your favorite accounts elsewhere. And if you end up being unsatisfied with your Mastodon instance, you can even migrate to a different instance, taking all your Fediverse connections with you (although your old posts will remain on the old instance).
== …and why it does ==
Still, there are some things you should keep in mind when picking an instance. While all Fediverse instances can connect with each other, not all of them do. The admins of each instance have responsibilities to both to their users and the fediverse at large, and need to ensure that abuse is stopped - but each instance has slightly different interpretations of what this means and what they will tolerate. And instances that - in the opinions of other admins - do not do enough to stop abuse from their users will often be blocked by other instances. As an example, instances that are overrun by accounts run by Nazis or people trying to sell you cryptocurrencies will be blocked by most of the Fediverse very quickly. So before you register at an instance, you should check both their moderation policies (on the “About” page) and their local timeline. If you don’t like what you see, go elsewhere.
In contrast, you might like what you see in the local timeline. Many instances are focused on specific topic, whether art, history, IT security, or tabletop role-playing games. If you are new to the Fediverse, finding an instance that fits your interests and checking out the local timeline can be a great way of finding new people to follow.
Finally, you should make sure that the instance is well maintained and up to date. For Mastodon, check out the version number at mastodon.social, the flagship instance (as of this writing, the version is 4.6.0) - if the version number of another instance is significantly lower, it is a sign that the administrator is not committed to maintenance, which in turn comes with the risk that the instance suddenly closes down one day and takes all your data with it.
(Even on a well-managed instance it is still a good idea to regularly back up your user data. If the worst comes to worst and your instance suddenly shut down, you can use that data to rebuild most of your social connections on another instance.)
== “Hello World!” ==
Once you have picked an instance and registered an account, there are a few further steps you should take to get a good start into the Fediverse.
First, fill out your profile with some information about you so that others who come across you will know what you are interested in. Add a few applicable hashtags.
Then create an introductory post using the #Introduction hashtag, and describe what you plan to post about and what topics you are interested in - again, using applicable hashtags. This will allow a lot of other people to find you and connect with you. It’s probably a good idea to pin this post to your profile as well.
After this is done, you can search for interesting posts and people to follow - by searching for relevant hashtags. Since the Fediverse doesn’t have any algorithm to fill your feed, hashtags are the fundamental tool to finding interesting things and people. And at least in the beginning, you will need to put in some effort to find interesting people to follow - otherwise your feed will look empty.
But once you have done this work, your timeline will fill up quickly. And while you might miss specific accounts and people on commercial social media platforms, I guarantee you will not miss the platforms themselves.
