This paper examines the potential of the Fediverse, a federated network of social media and content platforms, to counter the centralization and dominance of commercial platforms on the social Web. We gather evidence from the technology powering the Fediverse (especially the ActivityPub protocol), current statistical data regarding Fediverse user distribution over instances, and the status of two older, similar, decentralized technologies: e-mail and the Web. Our findings suggest that Fediverse will face significant challenges in fulfilling its decentralization promises, potentially hindering its ability to positively impact the social Web on a large scale.
Some challenges mentioned in the paper:
Discoverability as there is no central or unified index
Complicated moderation efforts due to its decentralized nature
Interoperability between instances of different types (e.g., Lemmy and Funkwhale)
Concentration on a small number of large instances
The risk of commercial capture by Big Tech
What are your thoughts on this? And how could we make the Fediverse a better place for all to stay?
Limited discoverability, complicated and controversial moderation, constantly changing interoperability problems, large instance users off in their own silo — it’s all part of the fedi charm, really.
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Limited discoverability, complicated and controversial moderation, constantly changing interoperability problems, large instance users off in their own silo — it’s all part of the fedi charm, really.