ICYMI: https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/ now has some features that show trends over time so you can watch user data get spread out more as #bluesky goes through some moderation upheaval and credible #atprotocol alternatives ramp up
atprotocol
Spent some time this morning getting a cursory understanding of #ATProtocol (the open protocol behind #BlueSky). I have a decent understanding of #ActivityPub and I expected AT to have a lot of similarities.
It’s quite different, and this diagram surprised me.
PDS here is “Personal Data Server”. You might think of it as something like a #Mastodon instance where all your data is stored and posts by those you follow are cached.
Except notice that there’s no arrows between PDSes.
1/5
At SXSW's Fediverse House, it didn't matter which platform or protocol you preferred — everyone was focused on the singular goal of building a better internet. We've uploaded videos and highlights of key conversations from the event and rounded them up in one post. Here you go:
https://about.flipboard.com/fediverse/fediverse-house-2025-roundup/
#SXSW #FediverseHouse #ATProtocol #ActivityPub #Fediverse #Federation #Flipboard #OpenSocial #OpenSocialWeb
The fediverse has no central authority — which brings both challenges and opportunities for how it's governed. For Dot Social, @mike spoke with @kissane and @darius, two of the smartest people working on this, about the impact of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election on fediverse work, the "Xodus," what needs to be done next, and how to fund and sustain better networks for humans.
Read more about it in this blogpost.
https://about.flipboard.com/fediverse/erin-kissane-and-darius-kazemi/
Listen to the conversation on https://flipboard.video/c/dot_social/videos or wherever you get your podcasts.
#DotSocial #Podcast #Fediverse #Flipboard #OpenSocialWeb #SocialMedia #Tech #SocialWeb #Governance #Federation #Bluesky #ActivityPub #ATProtocol #SocialNetworks
Bluesky founder and CEO @jay.bsky.team says social media is stagnating because "we're in this trap where users are locked in and developers are locked out." She talked to @mike for the Dot Social podcast about building a healthier internet, how Elon impacted Bluesky's trajectory, innovating on social identity, and how different protocols can come together.
Read more about the episode here: https://about.flipboard.com/fediverse/jay-graber/
Watch the video and listen to the podcast on PeerTube here, or listen wherever you get your podcasts: https://flipboard.video/w/ophhJTECuL7fcBNbUitV3q
Discover past interviews here: https://flipboard.com/@mike/dot-social-the-future-of-the-social-web-3r0pl8ge5dju9965
#DotSocial #Flipboard #Federation #Fediverse #Bluesky #ActivityPub #ATProtocol #OpenSocialWeb #JayGraber #MikeMcCue #SocialMedia
Edited 1y ago
My argument for #ActivityPub over #ATProtocol is simple: if ATProtocol rules supreme, what will compete against #Bluesky’s firehose?
How many nodes are there on AT Protocol?
How many unique services that don’t resemble Twitter run on AT Protocol?
But above all, what happens if Bluesky gets bought by Musk or Zuckerberg?
With the Fediverse, we got established decentralization. Not theoretical—something that exists in the far off future—but decentralization that is here and now.
Im Januar 2026 will #eurosky loslegen. Sich das Video anzuschauen, die Website aufmerksam lesen, kann helfen zu verstehen, wo die Reise los geht. ❗
Edited 267d ago
Will Mastodon, the platform that keeps the #Fediverse alive, miss a strategic opportunity to bring official institutions on board at scale?
By watching how #EuroSky is being marketed compared to #Mastodon, it certainly seems that way.
I wish the folks at Mastodon would invest in more professional marketing, similar to what we're seeing from its rival, Bluesky.
There was a major meeting in the EU Parliament focused on this topic, yet there was no announcement or microblog post from Mastodon. Zero engagement.
Compare these two approaches:
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ituoear7k6qx3smjfoxhufm4/post/3me7pxwrgerri
#Starling is a lightweight #PHP #fediverse server you can install by just copying files over FTP to a shared host. No PostgreSQL, no workers, no DevOps. Owning your data with #ActivityPub can be much simpler than with #ATProtocol. Have you tried it?
https://github.com/dfaria-eu/Starling
What does a Discord replacement look like, and how might the open social web play a part?
@laurenshof
looks at what needs to happen — different apps built on the same protocols, active collaboration to make sure it all fits together — and how that's already fundamental to the Atmosphere and fediverse.
flip.it/QdL.F…
#ActivityPub #Mastodon #ATProtocol #Bluesky #Blacksky #Discord #Technology #Tech
#ATProtocol #Bluesky #ActivityPub #Fediverse #Interoperability #Selfhosted #FediverseDev #OpenProtocols #BridgyFed
Looking for something that probably doesn't exist yet, but maybe someone here knows better.
I self-host both a Mastodon instance and a Bluesky PDS and I'd love to actually connect the two rather than just run them in parallel. Not a cross-poster. I mean real bridging: cross-protocol replies, likes, timelines, notifications, where an interaction on one side actually shows up as a native interaction on the other.
Is there anything out there that gets close to this for a self-hosted setup? I know Bridgy Fed exists, but from what I can tell it doesn't cover the full interaction surface and isn't really designed around self-hosted PDS + self-hosted Mastodon as the starting point.
Happy to hear about anything, experimental, WIP, half-broken. Just curious what the landscape looks like right now.
Boosts appreciated 🙏
One thing I keep coming back to when comparing #ActivityPub and AT Protocol: ActivityPub is basically a convention on top of the #web stuff we already have. An actor is a JSON-LD document you GET. An inbox is an endpoint you POST to. If you already run a website, you can bolt this on without changing the site's basic shape. Ghost didn't set out to join the #fediverse, and then years later it could, just by adding an endpoint.
AT Protocol feels less like that to me. Running a PDS means a signed repo, a Merkle search tree, a firehose, a DID. It's not a layer you add to an existing site. It's closer to standing up another backend beside it.
I think that's why ActivityPub keeps making sense to me. You can join later. You don't have to have built the whole thing with federation in mind from day one.
Edited 69d ago
What are the most important issues and discussions about the Open Social Web we need to have this late summer and fall?
#FediForum #FediForumFriday #ActivityPub #ATProtocol #Fediverse #atproto