Overview
The Fediverse (a portmanteau of 'federated' and 'universe') is a collection of independent social networks that use open protocols like ActivityPub to talk to each other. Unlike Twitter or Facebook, there is no central company in charge.
Key Characteristics
- Decentralization: Anyone can host their own server (instance).
- Federation: Users on one server can follow and interact with users on any other server in the network.
- Diversity: Includes platforms for microblogging (Mastodon), photo sharing (PixelFed), video (PeerTube), and link aggregation (Lemmy).
Benefits
- User Choice: Users can pick a server with rules and communities they like.
- Resilience: The network cannot be shut down by a single entity.