Fediverse Report

The Fediverse Report is a curated blog, giving you links and context to all the news that is happening in the fediverse.

Every week you get 'Last Week in the Fediverse', with a summary of the relevant news of the week.

Feel free to follow my personal account as well.

#fediverse #fediversereport #technology #news #tech #technews #opensource

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npub1daf0jwnmp53cgvw536lnh5e7qc4anqesecyldu73fm0e54kccyeskw783p

NIP-05 Address

fediversereport_at_mastodon.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsx75he8fas6guyx82ga0em6vlqv27esvcvuz0k70g5ahu62mvvzvc47zgkg

Author Public Key

npub1daf0jwnmp53cgvw536lnh5e7qc4anqesecyldu73fm0e54kccyeskw783p

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Last Notes

2024-07-14 15:51:55

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Fediverse Report will be off for the next two weeks, I'm taking a vacation break. I'll not be actively reading feeds and keeping track of what's happening, so if you feel that there is something I should see when I get back, feel free to tag me in the meantime.
Thanks!

2024-07-12 14:52:02

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extra fun fact: the announcement post made by the government is natively available in the fediverse via their Wordpress ActivityPub connection!
You can see for yourself:
https://mastodon.social/@digitaleoverheid.nl@www.digitaleoverheid.nl/112772786233619445

2024-07-12 14:51:25

Dutch government announces that they'll make Mastodon available to all layers of the entire Dutch government, as a shared service of the government, starting in 2025!
The Mastodon pilot of the government celebrates their 1-year anniversary today, and as part of the evaluation they stated the Mastodon pilot "strengthens digital autonomy and [creates] a safe and reliable information supply".
Announcement (in Dutch): https://www.digitaleoverheid.nl/nieuws/1-jarig-mastodon-overheid-blikt-terug-en-vooruit/

2024-07-12 14:40:52

The Dutch government celebrates 1 year of their Mastodon Project!
As part of their 1-year pilot evaluation, they announced that they strive towards offering Mastodon to all Dutch government agencies, starting in 2025. This includes all layers of the Dutch government (state, provincial, municipality), as a "shared service of the government".
Announcement in Dutch: https://www.digitaleoverheid.nl/nieuws/1-jarig-mastodon-overheid-blikt-terug-en-vooruit/

2024-07-04 18:37:59

Last Month in #Bluesky - June 2024
all the news that happened this month:
- 2 major labelers, Aegis and Taurus quit
- easier onboarding for Bluesky with starter packs
- new platforms starting to appear in the ATmosphere beyond microblogging
read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-month-in-bluesky-may-2024/

2024-06-30 16:52:53

New: Last Week in #Fediverse - ep 75
This week's news:
- #Threads expands their fediverse connection
- Bandwagon is a new platform for musicians on the fediverse that has entered early testing
- @npub1py2…s9cm interviews Ghost's John O'Nolan
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-ep-75/

2024-06-24 11:09:45

Framing online Discourse as a war that has to be won instead of a productive conversation is not new, but this article has some of the most clear and explicit examples of it that I've seen
https://www.infinitescroll.us/p/arguments-are-soldiers

2024-06-23 15:18:35

New: Last Week in #Fediverse - ep 74
This weeks' news:
- More updates by Ghost on their work on implementing #ActivityPub
- Statistics shared by Mastodon show the power of an open API, and the incredible diverse ecosystem that it enables
- NLnet supports fediverse event planning software Gancio with a new grant
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-ep-74/

2024-06-09 13:10:09

No newsletter this week, as I gotta listen to Justice and Slowdive at a festival this weekend. Back next week! In the meantime you can check out Last Month in Bluesky I wrote this week: https://fediversereport.com/last-month-in-bluesky-may-2024/

2024-06-05 16:15:43

New: Last Month in #bluesky
The news:
- Jack Dorsey has left the board of Bluesky
- DMs have arrived on, in a basic implementation so far
- New roadmaps for the app and the protocol
- The timeline for applying #atproto to formal standards body is pushed back until more independent active projrects have been build
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-month-in-bluesky-may-2024/

2024-05-30 17:00:53

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Neynar announces today that they have raised 11M USD to build a technology stack for social protocols; in their case #Farcaster
Neynar is a development platform for Farcaster. It helps devs build clients, bots, Hubs (relays), as well as provide easy APIs that allow other products to easily add things like 'sign in with Farcaster'.
https://neynar.com/blog/series-a-fundraise-announcement

2024-05-30 12:53:12

I'll be the moderator for the session on "What's neXt? From Mastodon via ActivityPub to the Fediverse or Social Web" on the PublicSpaces conference next week in Amsterdam!
Come check it out and join the conversation!
👇
https://social.publicspaces.net/@publicspaces/112529943297959269

2024-05-29 14:05:08

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Torment Nexus on the blockchain
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/524/755/365/258/130/original/a03d28a5a177d143.png

2024-05-29 14:03:48

New: What is Farcaster, and why did a16z value it at 1 billion dollar?
#Farcaster is a decentralised social network that has seen significant growth recently, with currently around 80k daily active users. The network has strong ties with crypto and Ethereum. They got an investment of $150M recently by (among others) a16z.
I take a closer look at how Farcaster works, and why some crypto VCs think its worth a billion dollars.
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/what-is-farcaster-and-why-did-it-raise-150m-usd/

2024-05-21 14:43:32

Correction: the original version stated that the Mostr.pub bridge was used for a spam wave on Bluesky. This is incorrect, a different bridge between Nostr and the fediverse, momostr.pink, was used. Mostr.pub creator Alex Gleason explains that the Mostr.pub bridge has anti-spam filtering that would have prevented such as spam attack.
https://mastodon.social/@fediversereport/112468656710956489

2024-05-19 16:18:28

New: Last Week in #fediverse - ep 69
It's this weeks news, with:
- Celebrating the 16th birthday of the fediverse
- European Commission sets up their own Mastodon server after the previous fediverse pilot by the EDPS has ended.
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-ep-69/

2024-05-16 17:41:19

New: Video, audio and blogging: Japanese #Bluesky is building in the ATmosphere
I take a look at 3 new products build on #atproto
Blogging with whtwnd.com
Video with bluemotion.app
Audio spaces with bluecast.app
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/video-audio-and-blogging-japanese-bluesky-is-building-in-the-atmosphere/

2024-05-12 16:52:27

New: Last Week in #Fediverse - ep 68
This week's news:
- Significant interest and use of the bridge between the fediverse and Bluesky, even though it is still in active development
- Ghost gives a first glimpse at their #ActivityPub powered reading app
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-ep-68/

2024-03-24 17:16:37

New: Last Week in #fediverse - ep 61
A busy newsweek in the fediverse:
- Threads has joined the fediverse in an open beta, allowing people from US, Canada and Japan to opt-in to having their Threads post be visible in the fediverse
- @npub1r0x…nrzq happened this week, with a ton of great demos, a large variety of sessions, and multiple calls and initiatives for more collaboration across the fediverse
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-ep-61/

2024-02-22 18:48:02

Bluesky has announced that today they have started with federation, allowing anyone to host their own data on the #bluesky network.
In a blog post they announced that anyone can now host their own PDS, framing it as a way to control your own data, and also explaining how it differs from Mastodon.
Bluesky describes it as an 'early access of federation for self-hosters'.
https://bsky.social/about/blog/02-22-2024-open-social-web

2024-02-06 14:14:27

#Bluesky is ready to open the network.
Starting today, Bluesky will not require invite codes anymore and anyone can join the network. Later this month, the team will roll out an "experimental early version of federation", allowing other people to run their own 'Personal Data Server' (PDS).
https://bsky.social/about/blog/02-06-2024-join-bluesky

2023-10-08 15:58:03

Last Month in Bluesky - September 23
Bluesky is undergoing a period of significant growth: mid September saw the network hitting 1 million accounts, and another 400k in the four weeks since.
Bluesky announced that the architecture for federation is now ready, and said they will start (internal) federation in the next few weeks. They will start federation with new servers (PDS) that are run by the Bluesky team, with open federation coming later.
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/last-month-in-bluesky-september-2023/

2023-10-01 17:01:51

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@npub16un…e944 There are some interesting lines to draw here to the Canadian Online News Act, which forces Meta and Google to pay for linking to Canadian news articles. In response Meta has banned all links to all news articles from Meta's services.
It's not something I got around to writing about in this specific article, but something I'm definitely keeping my eyes on.

2023-10-01 16:14:48

Mark Zuckerberg gave an interview with The Verge this week, talking about a wide variety of topics. He made some interesting comments on #Threads and #ActivityPub, touting the advantages of interoperability, and told us that he has "always believed in this stuff".
In this article I take a deeper, critical look at the arguments that Mark Zuckerberg presents, and the implications for the rest of the #fediverse.
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/zuckerberg-on-threads-and-activitypub/

2023-09-27 19:13:43

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On agency: "So, in a way, I actually think people will feel better about using our products if they know that they have the choice to leave."
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/138/702/763/357/769/original/22fc6c7904b5d2cc.png

2023-09-27 19:13:02

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Here, Zuckerberg's view is that interoperability improves the value of all products. He's positioning Threads here to compete with other products based on the quality of the product and not on exclusivity of content.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/138/700/007/240/809/original/ca6bdc29a4b0e921.png

2023-09-27 19:12:16

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Zuckerberg says that he has always believed in decentralized social media protocols, but that it's too complicated to implement it in Facebook. He says that the opportunity cost of transitioning an existing platform is too big. Threads is different, because they are starting from scratch.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/138/697/041/989/553/original/8dc851281dc908d0.png

2023-09-27 19:10:39

Mark Zuckerberg: "the more that there’s interoperability between different services and the more content can flow, the better all the services can be"
The Verge just released an interview with Mark Zuckerberg about a wide variety of topics, including Threads and ActivityPub.
You can read the entire interview here, with some of the most relevant parts for the fediverse down below:
https://www.theverge.com/23889057/mark-zuckerberg-meta-ai-elon-musk-threads-quest-interview-decoder

2023-09-04 15:19:48

Last Week in Fediverse – episode 33
#Lemmy has experienced CSAM attacks in the last week, with the material posted on multiple communities for people to see. Due to how federation works on Lemmy, this meant that the images also got send over and stored in the databases of other Lemmy servers. This poses questions and challenges for the admins, among others on how to make sure they are legally compliant.
For this, and other news, read: https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-episode-33/

2023-08-23 07:32:10

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@npub1vj4…xdjd interesting, thanks for the tag!

2023-08-22 07:10:29

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@npub1cwk…qe8n Yes, that's correct, thanks!
In the case of dbzer0, I choose to simplify it a little bit. The biggest community on dbzer0, !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com, has over 40k subscribers, while it's second biggest community (!adhd@lemmy.dbzer0.com) is only one tenth of the size at 4k subs. So defedding from only the biggest community has an outsized impact on the rest of the server as well.
But for sure, the granularity in defedding is interesting and worth a followup!

2023-08-21 18:06:03

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@npub1an2…lat3 Yeah thats a good point, thanks!
It's definitely a subject I want to come back to in the future, there is a lot more to be said around it. Like you said, the dynamics of link aggregators make multiple accounts significantly more logical than it does on microblogging platforms. My expectation is that this might contribute to Lemmy and Kbin splintering into multiple -verses, each with their own identity

2023-08-21 17:38:17

Last Week in the #fediverse - episode 31
This week I talk about defederation on Lemmy. Multiple servers have decided to defederate from each other for a variety of reasons. Underlying it all is a culture that has experienced rapid growth recently, and now the hard part of community building is beginning, including figuring out how and when defederation is a good tool to use.
In other news, some more clues on Threads and ActivityPub, and more!
Read it at: https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-the-fediverse-episode-31/

2023-08-17 16:24:34

Meet NLnet, the foundation supporting many fediverse projects
The NLnet foundation supports projects 'with ideas to fix the internet'. You might recognise some of the names: Mastodon, Misskey, Lemmy, PeerTube, Pixelfed and Pleroma all have had funding from NLnet.
I visited their office in Amsterdam to help you get to know foundation, what they do, and how they support the open internet, including the fediverse.
Read at: https://fediversereport.com/meet-nlnet/

2023-08-15 16:24:07

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@npub1kna…9qpm Also interesting is that they've been on the fediverse for a while, and they are on a server that still runs Mastodon 3.4.6 for some reason: https://unnerv.jp/

2023-08-15 16:17:15

A quick look at recent developments on the Japanese side of the #fediverse. The summary:
- Misskey.io is growing quickly, more than doubling their accounts in the last month alone, to over 370k.
- To deal with the rapid growth, signups are limited to only Japan
- Misskey.io has officially incorporated itself into MisskeyHQ
- NERV, an earthquake warning app popular in Japan, is leaving its 1.9M X followers and will only post on Mastodon from now on
https://fediversereport.com/misskey-and-the-japanese-fediverse/

2023-08-14 15:46:37

Last Week in the #fediverse - episode 30
The highlights:
- Opt-in search is finally coming to #Mastodon
- initial release of the Federation Safety Enhancement Project
- #Misskey organises themselves into a company
- #Lemmy devs held an AMA
Read it at https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-the-fediverse-episode-30/

2023-08-11 16:36:17

Lemmy ask you anything!
The #Lemmy devs held an AMA this week, answering a large variety of questions from the community. I wrote about some of the themes in their answers, and how the developers think about Lemmy, the fediverse and community.
Read the report at https://fediversereport.com/lemmy-ask-you-anything/

2023-08-10 09:17:31

The lemmy.world (lwadmin@lemmy.world) admins release a statement about the recent reoccurring outages at lemmy.world.
They state that for multiple hours per day, they are under a DDOS attack. The attackers find database queries that are 'expensive' to run, to try and overload the database.
The lemmy.world admins also respond to remarks that lemmy.world is too big, and should close down registration.
lemmy.world/post/2923697

2023-08-09 15:50:02

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@npub1w9r…crnf More Dutch government institutes have joined Mastodon today:
⛅The National Meteoreological Institute @npub1q88…mq39
🌊The National agency for Infrastructure and Watermanagement @npub1xus…c9pl
🚗Traffic updates for the highways, also via Rijkswaterstaat @npub1haa…xrra

2023-07-12 14:21:25

The Dutch government has officially launched their own Mastodon server, State Secretary of Digitalisation @npub1w9r…crnf announced today! The server lives on the official domain of the Dutch government, at social.overheid.nl.
The Secretary mentions in her announcement a letter to the government explaining her support for 'value-driven alternative social networks', such as Mastodon. For more information on that, check out
https://fediversereport.com/dutch-government-officially-launches-mastodon-server/

2023-07-05 12:20:19

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, posted a message on #Threads explaining why Meta is committed to adding #ActivityPub support. The reason he lists is the ability to take your social graph to another server.
https://www.threads.net/t/CuRtcYTNY3J/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/661/443/006/876/300/original/0acf2613554f5fd4.png

2023-05-30 18:44:46

Last week's fediverse news roundup, episode 19 is out! Some highlights:
📋Defederation of Meta's potential entrance to the #fediverse remains a hotly discussed topic, with the user base fairly split over the approach
📸#pixelfed is rapidly shipping updates, such as spam detection, account verification and more
🎥@npub188q…3jlx has an excellent video about @npub14vr…0e7d , the organisation behind #peertube and #mobilizon (https://tilvids.com/w/8DpY23X8tMoUK8vXMuVqtt)
@npub1gsm…5y8l
Read it all at https://fediversereport.com/the-roundup-episode-20/

2023-04-26 10:13:35

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#[0] audon.space is an interesting example as well

2023-04-24 13:54:09

Audon is a great real-time audio streaming service for the #[0]! Think Spaces or Clubhouse, and you pretty much got it. You create a room for audio, where other people can listen to you, or just give them the role of speaker as well.
You can easily log in with your fediverse (Mastodon/Calckey/Pleroma) account, create a room, share the link, and you're ready to go!
Check it out at https://audon.space
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/254/125/590/131/196/original/841955dd06aba08e.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/254/125/591/902/007/original/7b2d66a323a8edc4.png

2023-04-15 14:05:20

German news website #[0] has been very active on the #[1], now the second largest news account. Editor #[2] has extensively documented the process.
Findings compared to their (6x sized) Twitter account:
Way higher engagement than Twitter
Website traffic slightly below Twitter
Valuable information for any news organisation that is debating whether to leave Twitter, and which platform to join instead!
#[3] #[4]
Read it all at: https://fediversereport.com/news-outlets-twitter-and-the-fediverse/

2023-03-26 14:08:48

New: The Roundup - episode 11
This week's #[0] news gathered into an easy overview. Some standout ones:
📸PixelFed is working an on Instagram Import feature
📖Bookwyrm is used to maintain a list of all banned books in US public schools
🛠️Automattic is considering making their newly aqcuired ActivityPug plugin for WordPress into a Canonical Plugin
#[1]
Read it all at: https://fediversereport.com/the-roundup-episode-11/