These days, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for me to feel optimistic about the internet because of how many – or I guess really, how few – sites/companies dominate people’s attention. I avoid using Facebook and TikTok because I hate the walled garden approach to sharing and creating content. I think it actively discourages curiosity and discovery. So, in an effort to remind myself what I like about the internet, I’m going to focus on some of the things that I’m excited about.
First is this blog, which is published using Ghost; I’m using it for the first time after blogging and developing with WordPress for many years. (NOTE: after writing this I ended up migrating this site from Ghost to WP so this site is no longer using Ghost, though I am still excited about what Ghost has to offer!!) I have worked on WordPress sites professionally for the last 8+ years, and I think it still has its place, but I think it can be overkill if you just want a simple blog/newsletter. Ghost has a pretty straightforward approach and a clean interface that I appreciate. Plus, their commitment to being a part of the fediverse excites me.
I’ve been trying to explain what is so appealing about the fediverse to my friends for years, but it’s still so new and kind of nebulous that most people don’t really care about it yet. Threads is probably going to be the most widely used implementation of it, which is honestly great because I’m floored that a product developed by Meta is going to be a part of fostering a more open internet. The most common explanation of how the fediverse (ActivityPub) works is similar to how you can email someone with an Outlook email from a Gmail address, eventually you should be able to follow this blog from a Threads account. It’s essentially making social media work like RSS readers used to.
I’ve also been using Bluesky, which suits me more as a formerly very active Twitter user. I think the most interesting part about Bluesky is the ability for users to create their own feeds, including creating algorithms for feeds. I love this approach – it allows for more control and transparency about what you’re seeing. I also like the way they’ve done usernames and domains; I can post with my handle as alexpow.com, and subdomains or accounts can easily be added for large organizations. The ActivityPub format would be alex@alexpow.com, which I think can get a little confusing since it looks like an email address. Compared to ActivityPub, it is more specific to “microblogging” posts which I like, but that will probably result in less widespread adoption. I don’t really see it becoming something where a lot of other social media sites will start using it, and I think most of the userbase will stick to using Bluesky as opposed to creating their own site that uses the AT Protocol.
With ActivityPub, tons of different types and lengths of posts can be created, and then depending on where you go to see your feed, that site determines what posts look like. So, there are some sites that are more focused on video or photo content, but if you were to follow a user from a different server, it would show up in your feed in the format determined by the server you’re on. I think this aligns with how people have been using the internet for the last 10-15 years. Most people have a preferred social media site, so finding a way to allow for people to continue using social media in the way they’re used to while also allowing the ability to follow and interact with content from elsewhere seems like the best way forward. If it catches on, I think it could also force sites like Instagram or TikTok to allow for linking to content outside of their site.
I’m also super interested in how local IRL communities use social media, and I don’t think there are any examples that I know of that do it in a way I think is actually beneficial to the community. Facebook rewards people for being inflammatory (most social media sites do), Nextdoor seems to breed paranoia, Reddit is ok but it attracts a very specific type of person and skews younger. I think this is an area that could potentially be served by ActivityPub servers for specific areas, with a focus on making a site that is super accessible with dedicated moderators to keep things civil and cut down on misinformation. The difficulty with that is it would probably have to be volunteer run and funded by donations, and I’m not sure how sustainable that would be to maintain.
Alex Powelson 