The software product many sites use is called "mastodon", but taken as a whole, this is not "mastodon", it's the fediverse. The fediverse consists of many different software products that all do slightly different things.
For example:
Peertube is a youtube alternative.
Bookwyrm is a platform for sharing literary tastes
Funkwhale is a soundcloud alternative
Pixelfed is for sharing images
Lemmy and Lotide are reddit-alikes
Because the copy of the software is generally about the same, each site running the software is called an "instance".
And they all support the common ActivityPub protocol so not only can (for example) people from different peertube server subscribe to channels on another server, but (and this is amazing), you can follow and participate in many of these things from the site you're reading this on!
One thing to know that's a bit technical: The ActivityPub protocol works by asking other sites what's going on, so if nobody on your site is subscribed yet, then there's probably nothing there. Once you subscribe, you'll start to see new posts. (By the way, that's the same for users on other instances, in case you subscribed to someone and can't see anything yet)
Here's some examples:
@geotechland has a Peertube channel which you can find @geotechland at but it's also available at https://tilvids.com/c/geotechland/videos
Lemmy Instance Solarpnk's self-hosting forum is available at @selfhosting but it's also available at https://slrpnk.net/c/selfhosting
Of course, you can connect through the software you're reading this with right now, but you can also create a separate account on that sort of software, because the different interfaces are useful. A peertube instance will give you a youtube-like interface to go through videos, and a lemmy instance will give you a threaded conversation view.
It's a wide, wide world out there, and the power of these tools goes far beyond being a "twitter alternative" into being a whole ecosystem of different things that can all interoperate.
#twittermigration #feditips
For example:
Peertube is a youtube alternative.
Bookwyrm is a platform for sharing literary tastes
Funkwhale is a soundcloud alternative
Pixelfed is for sharing images
Lemmy and Lotide are reddit-alikes
Because the copy of the software is generally about the same, each site running the software is called an "instance".
And they all support the common ActivityPub protocol so not only can (for example) people from different peertube server subscribe to channels on another server, but (and this is amazing), you can follow and participate in many of these things from the site you're reading this on!
One thing to know that's a bit technical: The ActivityPub protocol works by asking other sites what's going on, so if nobody on your site is subscribed yet, then there's probably nothing there. Once you subscribe, you'll start to see new posts. (By the way, that's the same for users on other instances, in case you subscribed to someone and can't see anything yet)
Here's some examples:
@geotechland has a Peertube channel which you can find @geotechland at but it's also available at https://tilvids.com/c/geotechland/videos
Lemmy Instance Solarpnk's self-hosting forum is available at @selfhosting but it's also available at https://slrpnk.net/c/selfhosting
Of course, you can connect through the software you're reading this with right now, but you can also create a separate account on that sort of software, because the different interfaces are useful. A peertube instance will give you a youtube-like interface to go through videos, and a lemmy instance will give you a threaded conversation view.
It's a wide, wide world out there, and the power of these tools goes far beyond being a "twitter alternative" into being a whole ecosystem of different things that can all interoperate.
#twittermigration #feditips
- replies
- 0
- announces
- 1
- likes
- 2