Dear Fedi friends,
I started this blog series The Future is Federated a little over a year ago, on June 11, 2024. The anniversary came and went without any announcements on my part for two reasons:
- I released the video Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media the day before, on June 10th. And for days - and weeks afterwards - I was engaged in discussions with viewers; the video was my big priority last month, not the anniversary of this blog series.
- To be perfectly honest I was reluctant to go down memory lane and republish old blog posts - even the inaugural one - because of their tone. Reading back the earlier articles, I could not help but cringe - quite a bit. Back then I was still under the influence of Big Tech platforms; my concept of interacting online still showed a self-serving focus, in a sort of "me me me, what can this do for me?" way. Ew, yikes.
If I were to write the post "Introducing: the Future is Federated" today, I would say things really differently.
At the risk of repeating myself, going all in on the Fediverse has made me a better digital citizen, interested in fostering genuine human connections with like-minded people, away from the slot-machine-like platforms of Big Tech. I feel part of a "Rebel Alliance", united with fellow revolutionaries towards a common goal: to see the Fediverse succeed, making it a worthy opponent to Big Tech platforms. On a personal note, I'm highly aware of the need to make my posts accessible to all and I always apply Alt Text to my images and put hashtags in #CamelCase.
A big shift: individualistic vs. collectivist way of being
The big shift I experienced when it comes to social media was going from "what can this do for me?" to "how can I contribute and be a better member of this community?" In short, the difference between individualistic societies and collectivist ones, where the needs and goals of the group are prioritized over individual desires. The Fediverse is undoubtedly collectivist in nature and that's what I really love about it.
If I were to identify a precise moment when the shift occurred - and when my old posts didn't make me cringe so much - it would probably be three months in, with this article: "Beyond technical features: why we need to talk about the values of the Fediverse (part 1)":
Elena Rossini
What is a measure of success for the Fediverse?
I've often heard the question: "what does success look like (for the Fediverse)?" and my answer now (in 2025) is very different from what I would have said last year.
In 2024 I was all about getting my friends to open up accounts on the Fediverse. I thought that numbers were a measure of success, but I realize now that that's an individualistic approach, the way of thinking of Big Tech platforms, where capitalism and growth rule above all else.
My goals now are more modest: planting seeds in people's minds that another way to interact online is possible. And when people ARE READY and willing, help them set up an account on the Fediverse software best suited for their needs, helping them out and acclimatizing them to the culture of this place.
Ultimately, I'd like to see the Fediverse grow slowly and organically in a way that's financially sustainable for server admins.
Year 2: a roadmap
In the first year of this blog I explored the values of the Fediverse, did numerous interoperability experiments between software and explored projects like Pixelfed, Friendica, Lemmy, Mbin, Piefed, Sharkey and federated Wordpress sites. Then in late December of last year I began a self-hosting journey and installed my own instances of GoToSocial, Friendica, Pixelfed and PeerTube.
What's in store for the coming year?
I'm currently testing Bonfire, with the goal of writing about it in the coming weeks (after a proper test drive). I am also exploring NextCloud and I plan to try out the Goodreads alternative BookWyrm. As soon as Ghost version 6 is released, I will be able to federate this blog - and write about the experience, comparing and contrasting it with Wordpress.
On the multimedia front, I am currently producing a German and a Spanish narration of the Fediverse promo video and I hope to release them by the end of the summer. This week I will add more foreign-language subtitles.
I also have at the top of my to do list to release a package of motion graphics animations I did for the Fediverse promo video - that creators could use and remix in their own videos.
Last but not least: I need to keep creating more Fediverse stock photos (showing Android devices and laptops).
So much to do!
Obviously I'm also taking requests, if there's anything you'd like me to try out and write about.
Thank you so much for being here and for inspiring me to go on these adventures.
Elena
P.S.: all the posts in the series The Future is Federated are available here:
Elena Rossini
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