What is The Social Web and why does it matter?

John Mastodon - CEO of the Social Web

Imagine you only needed one account to like, comment and see content on, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Youtube, Discord, as well as web site comments sections, forums and much much more. With just one account you could follow people, content, conversations and hashtags on all of those platforms. Wouldn’t that be nice!? Also imagine you could choose to access and interact with all those sites from lots of different apps from different developers, or through any regular browser. This is essentially The Social Web. (aka the Fediverse) Hundreds of different social media sites and apps all talking to each other.

The Social Web works a lot like email, where you pick a name and a server. For email it’s most likely Google, Microsoft, Apple or Proton. It doesn’t matter what email server you choose, you can still communicate with anyone else who is using email. It also doesn’t matter what email app you prefer, you can pick the one you like best and use it with your email address. This is the same with the Social Web and choosing a server and an app you like. Email works because of someting called open protocols. Protocols that everyone who provides an email service must use. The social web is built on the same idea of protocols. This means anyone can use those protocols to build an app that can interact with the rest of the Social Web. 

Ivory for Mastodon by Tapbots. IOS Download page

“What we are looking at right now is a social media revolution, and boy its timing could not be better!”

For people of my age, watching the emergence of the Social Web feels like the early days of the internet, when people were starting to break out of the walled gardens created by companies like AOL. Back then there was an explosion of activity from developers, entrepreneurs and hobbyists  interested in the internet and what they could potentially do with the HTTP protocols behind it. We saw this crazy proliferation of services as people broke out of their AOL silo and started to connect with millions of new people and services. Right now a similar hive of activity, related to the Social Web, is happening all over the world. There really is sooooo much going on I am only going to scratch the surface here. But trust me, this new evolution of the internet is a massive rabbit hole of new products, ideas and innovation to fall into.

The Social Web is being built on a protocol called Activity Pub. It was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C is the main international standards organisation for the internet, founded in 1994 and led by Tim Berners-Lee. If you want to know more, Wikipedia as always has you covered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActivityPub On top of the main protocol work there are thousands of other people and organisation working on all the other aspects of the Social Web. The Social Web Foundation is another steering group, there is IFTAS who are working on content moderation, Fediscovery is working on search-ability and FediDB is working on Metrics.  These are just four that spring to mind but there are many more people and orgs working on nuts n bolts stuff like making it easier to install your own server.

Some of the main Apps on the Social Web you may have already have heard of: Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Misskey. On top of this there are plugins you can get for web sites like WordPress and Ghost that give a blog a presence on the Social Web and allow users to interact with the blog’s comment section. We also have someting called “bridges” that join the Social Web with other social media services such as Bluesky. BridgyFed allows Mastodon and Bluesky users to chat with each other and like and share content. Flipboard now has Activity Pub built into the core of its platform and also Threads has implemented some of the Activity Pub protocol too. Whatever aspect of the internet you can think of, there is someone probably working on an Activity Pub enabled version. There is a Bandcamp alternative called Band Wagon. A book club called Bookwyrm. A secure messaging service is in the works. A Social Web “alternative” of Patreon, and much much more.

“With the Social Web you get to see what is interesting to you. You get to see what you have asked to see, not what the billionaires’ algorithm wants you to see.” (Jaz-Michael King – Dot Social Podcast)

This is only the beginning, but right now the social web does a couple of really powerful things. It allows a person to own their own social graph. That is to say, it allows a user to take their followers with them, wherever they go, independent of what server they are using. If you quit one server, you can still take all your followers to your new server. Though it must be noted this isn’t always 100% the case but improvements are being worked on at the protocol level. Also it’s possible to have one account to sign up to multiple platforms. Again, it’s not 100% happening right now, but it is technically possible and is happening across various apps. (Sign-in-with-mastodon-on-pixelfed) Also if you really want complete control over your own followers and data you can simply set up your own server. You can host your own account on your own server and use your current domain name. Users then have complete control of content, domain and social graph. This is the complete opposite of what Social Media is like for most people stuck on these silo platforms.

With digital technology and social media we know, “Simplicity is always the winner” This great quote I heard on the Dot Social Podcast last year. It explains how Facebook managed to take over the internet by offering the simplest way to connect with people. Right now there is still a perception of the Social Web being complicated, which is partly true and it is perhaps holding it back a bit. It is however only a matter of time before some new killer App comes along that’s both simple and powerful and will take the Social Web to a whole new level. @dansup@pixelfed.social from Pixelfed has just released Loops, a TikTok alternative that could be that new killer app. The next big thing from @mike@flipboard.com is an app called Surf (@surf@flipboard.social) which is now out in beta. Surf is a cool new way to follow content curators and is a a mix of both Social Media and RSS features.

Screenshot from Surf.Social website
Did I mention that the Social Web can easily be integrated with RSS? Did I mention, that Social Web frees us from the Billionaires Algorithm? Did I mention most of these services are ad free? (Though they can be funded that way) Did I mention moderation is a true community (sever) effort and not the whim of a Billionaire? Did I mention you don’t have to pay for a blue tick? I could go on, but I am sure you get the point. There are many advantages to The Social Web over the old siloed approach.
As a Branding professional I would urge organisations and ethical brands to look into joining the Social Web. To start building their social graph on the Social Web. Prominent organisation like the BBC and the European Commission  are experimenting with the Social Web and hosting their own content. There are also quite a few publishers like, The Verge, Ars Technica,  Rolling Stone magazine and many more posting to services like Mastodon and Flipboard. I’ve now got my Activity Pub plugin working on my site and you can follow me here: @lee@www.melbournebranding.com

 

NodeBB Officially Joins the Fediverse

 

The Social Web is still a “work in progress.” It’s bleeding edge stuff. Some things are not perfect. Search and discoverability are still being worked on and need improving, as well as the afore mentioned moving of accounts. But the advantages are clear, and open standards always win. With Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok all acquiescing to the influence of the Trump Admin’, there are much bigger social and political reasons why federated networks, that are not controlled by one person or entity, make a lot of sense. “Our social connections have been locked up in separate self-serving social networks.” (quote from Surf.Social) It’s time break free!

Drop any comments you have below and hopefully I will be responding in the Fediverse, or send me an email.

What is the Fediverse? (Youtube Explainer)

https://wedistribute.org/

https://fediversereport.com