Fediverse


The Fediverse is the ensemble of federated servers that are used for web publishing and file hosting, but which, while independently hosted, can communicate with each other.
On different servers, users can create so-called identities. These identities are able to communicate over the boundaries of the instances because the software running on the servers supports one or more communication protocols which follow an open standard. As an identity on the fediverse, users are able to post text and other media, or to follow posts by other identities. In some cases, users can even show or share data publicly or to a selected group of identities and allow other identities to edit other users' data.

History

In 2008, the social network identi.ca was founded by Evan Prodromou. He published the software GNU social under a free license. Besides the server, identi.ca, there were only few other instances, run by persons for their own use. This changed in 2011–12 when identi.ca switched to another software called pump.io. Several new GNU social instances were created. At the same time as GNU social, other projects like Friendica, Hubzilla, Mastodon and Pleroma integrated the OStatus protocol, thus extending the fediverse.
In the meantime, other communication protocols have evolved which are integrated to different degrees into the platforms. In January 2018, the W3C presented the ActivityPub protocol, aiming to improve the interoperability between the platforms., this protocol was supported by thirteen platforms.

Communication protocols used in the fediverse

These communication protocols, which implement open standards, are used in the fediverse:
The software spanning the fediverse are FOSS. Some of them vaguely resemble Twitter in style, while others include more communication and transaction options that are instead comparable to Google+ or Facebook.
The following software platforms span the fediverse by using the listed communication protocols:
Platform NameTypeActivityPubDFRNDiaspora
Network		OStatusZot
Zot/6
AardwolfSocial network
AnforaImage hosting
diaspora* softwareSocial network, Microblogging
distbinPastebin
Friendica
Social network, Microblogging
FunkwhaleAudio, sound hosting
GNU MediaGoblinfile, image, audio, video hosting
GNU social
Microblogging
HonkSocial network
Hubzilla
CMS, Social network, Microblogging, Wiki, Blogging, Image gallery, File hosting
KibouSocial network, Microblogging
LemmyLink Aggregator, Social Network
Littr.meLink Aggregator, Social Network
MastodonMicroblogging
microblog.pubMicroblogging
MisskeySocial network, Microblogging
NextcloudFile hosting
NodetubeVideo hosting
NumaverseMicroblogging, ETH blockchain
Osada Social network, Microblogging
PeerPxImage hosting
PeerTubeVideo hosting
PixelfedImage hosting
PleromaMicroblogging
PlumeBlogging
postActivMicroblogging
PrismoLink-sharing
Pubcast Netcasting
pump.ioMicroblogging
Read.asFeed reader
SocialhomeWebsite, Social network, Microblogging
Write.as / WriteFreelyBlogging
ZapSocial network, Macroblogging, Image gallery, File hosting

Actual spreading

The statistic service The Federation states for the June 14, 2019 following data about the fediverse. The statistics do not reflect the whole fediverse.