As the open social web movement gains momentum, a new nonprofit organization, the Social Web Foundation (SWF), is launching to expand and improve the federated social network ecosystem, also known as the fediverse. This network is powered by the ActivityPub protocol and includes services like Mastodon and Bluesky.
Founding and Support
The SWF was co-founded by Evan Prodromou, who is also a co-author and current editor of ActivityPub. The organization is backed by major implementors of the ActivityPub protocol, including Meta (via its latest app, Threads), the social magazine app Flipboard, and the newsletter platform Ghost. Additionally, the Ford Foundation has provided a significant grant to support the project.
Expansion and User Experience
The launch of Threads has significantly boosted the adoption of the fediverse, with over 200 million new potential users. Prodromou notes that this expansion has piqued the interest of other companies, making the fediverse more attractive for publishers and social networks alike.
User-Friendly Improvements
One of the SWF’s primary goals is to make the fediverse more user-friendly. While Mastodon offers a service similar to Twitter/X, its decentralized nature can be confusing for less technical users. To address this, the SWF is developing an alternative onboarding experience to guide users through the initial steps more easily.
Education and Awareness
The SWF aims to educate users about the different federated apps available and inform them about the potential benefits of participating in the fediverse. Many users on Threads, for example, may not be aware that they can enable federation for their accounts, allowing them to participate in the broader fediverse ecosystem.
Supporting New Services
The organization also plans to support new services joining the fediverse, such as Ghost, which allows for long-form text. While the ActivityPub protocol currently supports long-form text without character limits, the SWF aims to address other considerations, such as the optimal number of attachments, image embedding, and image size options.
Conclusion
The launch of the Social Web Foundation marks a significant step forward in expanding and improving the fediverse. With support from major players in the space and a focus on making the platform more user-friendly, the SWF is well-positioned to drive further adoption and growth in the open social web movement.
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