The start of any new year is typically a time of reflection: looking back at the high and low points of the previous year and aspirations for the months to come.
The second half of 2024 was for me a time of exciting Fediverse explorations, which culminated in December 2024 in a great leap forward, into the realm of self-hosting.
I have never been as enthusiastic about the Fediverse as I am now and I am excited to continue my explorations in this new year, trying out and spreading the word about more Fediverse projects.
But first! Let’s look back at my Fediverse highlights from 2024.
2024: a year of Fediverse explorations
When I started writing the blog series The Future is Federated in June 2024 I had a simple goal in mind: to introduce Mastodon to people not familiar with it, so that, if they so chose, they could leave behind the world of commercial social media (powered by surveillance capitalism) and start using ethical social media instead, built by the people for the people.
I am blushing as I write this, but it needs to be emphasized that in June 2024 I equated Mastodon with the whole Fediverse (yikes). Oh the things I didn’t know then! But to my credit, I learned quickly and course-corrected.
1) Microblogging: Mastodon
On June 25, I wrote an article about the 10 reasons why I believed Mastodon “is the best social media platform”:
Elena Rossini
Do I still believe this? Yes and no. Read until the end for my impressions on my ideal social platform (spoiler alert: it combines various elements of several Fediverse projects).
2) Photo sharing: Pixelfed
On July 25th I discussed the interoperability experiments I had been conducting, showing the seamless integration between Mastodon and Pixelfed:
Elena Rossini
It makes me feel hopeful that as of now (mid-January 2025) Pixelfed has gained sudden popularity, after having any mention of it banned by Meta platforms (gotta love the Streisand effect!)
Pixelfed has been built and run by one person: the inspiring Dan Supernault and if you are curious about it and plan to sign up for an account, I would strongly encourage you to donate to the project or take the self-hosting route (like I did earlier this week). I can’t imagine the server costs involved in hosting tens of thousands of new accounts.
Now, back to my Fediverse explorations:
3) A social blog: ActivityPub Wordpress Plugin
On August 1, I wrote an article about the superpowers that my Wordpress site had acquired after enabling the ActivityPub plugin by Matthias Pfefferle:
Elena Rossini
My personal website became a Fediverse instance; any new post would immediately appear in the feeds of my Fediverse followers, with comments syncing seamlessly between the Fediverse and my personal site. In the ensuing two months, I eventually federated two additional Wordpress sites of mine:
4) Beyond microblogging: Friendica
On August 9th, I did a show and tell of the Fediverse software Friendica, which is usually described as the Fediverse’s answer to Facebook:
Elena Rossini
In reality, I find this description reductive. Friendica is so much more: the most advanced social network I have ever used, functionalities-wise. Imagine seeing in your news feed posts by your Fediverse friends, plus RSS feeds of your favorite blogs, messages from groups you belong to… and so much more, across various platforms. Friendica is the Swiss army knife of social media.
5) Content Aggregators: Lemmy, PieFed & Mbin
On August 22, I did a show & tell of Fediverse content aggregators – basically alternatives to Reddit:
Elena Rossini
In the fall, I put Fediverse explorations on pause and wrote a series of posts about the values of the Fediverse. In the meantime, I began experimenting with Sharkey (a fork of MissKey) and tinkering with my Raspberry Pi and Ubuntu.
6) Beautiful and fun microblogging: Sharkey
On December 16th I wrote an article about Sharkey, which, in my humble opinion, has the best UX/UI in the whole Fediverse – all credit goes to MissKey and its brilliant MFM (markup language for MissKey):
Elena Rossini
7) Self-hosting with GoToSocial
A month ago, on December 17th 2024 I posted:
The YunoHost installation went smoothly – it was indeed "so easy a child could do it."
In the span of a month, I have:
- set up my own Fediverse microblogging instance via GoToSocial (Dec 22)
- installed the superb Phanpy on my server (Dec 29) as a web client for my GotoSocial instance
- set up my own Pixelfed instance (this Tuesday Jan 14)
We’re so lucky to live in a day and age when generous, tech savvy volunteers - like the wonderful folks at YunoHost - have put together phenomenal resources to allow anyone to self-host with confidence.
I am not a developer, just a regular person passionate about technology and digital sovereignty. And here I am, smiling from ear to ear in January 2025, feeling pretty empowered now that I can self-host my own Fediverse projects.
Naturally, I plan to write about my experiences with GoToSocial in an upcoming article for The Future is Federated.
Big Tech illusions vs. reality
I always thought that self-hosting was unattainable, something that only real developers could do. That’s the Big Lie of Big Tech: that digital sovereignty and independence are “too difficult” “too expensive” “too time-consuming”.
Big Tech platform seem to say: give up on that idea now and relinquish control. Instead of getting in the driver’s seat, sit back and enjoy a “smooth” ride – an experience curated by addictive algorithms and rapacious advertisers.
I know better now.
I am incredibly grateful to Fediverse admins, who allow hundreds of thousands of us to experience ethical social networks for free, if we so choose (but please, if you can, consider monthly donations to the instances you're on so they can be sustainable).
I gotta say, being the admin of my own instances is pretty cool and empowering. And fairly easy, too, if one is curious and motivated.
Looking ahead at 2025
What do I plan to do in 2025?
My enthusiasm for the Fediverse keeps growing with each passing day. In the coming weeks, I plan to write about:
- my experiences self-hosting with GoToSocial
- PeerTube (the Fediverse’s alternative to YouTube)
- The Friends plugin for Wordpress by Alex Kirk, which allows you to put your Wordpress site at the center of your online activities
- Mobilizon: a Fediverse project that helps you find, create and organize events
- Matrix.org: a Fediverse-adjacent open network for secure, decentralized communications
And so much more! There are several Fediverse projects like Hubzilla and Pleroma that I keep hearing about and have yet to try.
My ideal social network
I suppose the biggest takeaway I had last year was that I found my ideal social network during my Fediverse explorations. What does it look/work like? Something with the functionalities of Friendica, the UX/UI of Sharkey and the stability and reliability of Mastodon.
There has never been a better time to leave behind the walled gardens of Big Tech and start exploring the Fediverse.
Thank you for being on this journey with me and motivating me to keep going.
Elena
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