The <strong>Fediverse</strong> is a federated social-media network.
</p>
<p>
The <strong>Fediverse</strong> is to social-media what the Internet is to computer-networks.
I.e., just like the Internet is a network of networks, the Fediverse is a network of social-media networks.
</p>
</section>
<section>
<h2>Mastodon</h2>
<p>
<ziba-link>Mastodon</ziba-link> is the most well-known part of the <strong>Fediverse</strong>
—
due to attention it has been getting from news media and TV.
</p>
<p>
<ziba-link>Mastodon</ziba-link> is <em>not</em> a social-media network <em>per se</em>.
<ziba-link>Mastodon</ziba-link> is software that anyone can use to create their own social-media network.
</p>
<p>
As of 2023, there are tens of thousands of social-media networks that are using the <ziba-link>Mastodon</ziba-link> software.
And that number has been predicted to grow to the hundreds of thousands in the near future!
</p>
<p>
But what is different between this wave of social-media networks and the previous wave of social-media networks is
—
these thousands and thousands of <ziba-link>Mastodon</ziba-link> based social-media networks <strong>federate</strong>.
</p>
<blockquote>
federation (noun): any group formed from separate entities or objects.
</blockquote>
</section>
<section>
<h2>More Fediverse</h2>
<p>
But <ziba-link>Mastodon</ziba-link> based social-media networks don't just <strong>federate</strong> with other <ziba-link>Mastodon</ziba-link> based social-media networks
they <strong>federate</strong> with <em>any</em> software that "speaks" the language of the <strong>Fediverse</strong> — i.e., <ziba-linktransform="lowercase">ActivityPub</ziba-link> and others.
At last count there are <strong>about 40 different <em>Fediverse</em> software</strong>.
Many of them provide a very different experience from the others.
</p>
<ul>
<li><ziba-link>akkoma</ziba-link>, <ziba-link>mastodon</ziba-link>, <ziba-link>firefish</ziba-link>, <ziba-link>pleroma</ziba-link> and others are Twitter-like.</li>
<li><ziba-link>pixelfed</ziba-link> is Instagram-like.</li>
<li><ziba-link>peertube</ziba-link> is YouTube-like.</li>
<li><ziba-link>friendica</ziba-link> and others are Facebook-like.</li>
<li><ziba-link>lemmy</ziba-link> and others are Reddit-like.</li>
<li><ziba-link>nextcloud</ziba-link> is Google Drive-like.</li>
<li><ziba-link>owncast</ziba-link> is Twitch-like.</li>
<li><ziba-link>forgejo</ziba-link> and <ziba-link>gitea</ziba-link> are GitHub-like.</li>
<li>Etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Yet, despite all these different user-experiences all these different social-media networks <strong>federate</strong>.
</p>
</section>
<section>
<h2>Etymology of ‘Fediverse’</h2>
<p>
The word “Fediverse” is a combination of (a portmanteau of) the words “federation” and “universe”, or “federated” and “universe”.