• What better way to start than with Elena Rossini's four-minute video https://blog.elenarossini.com/fediverse-video

[the] technology is a facilitating thing. It's like trying to describe how a bicycle works, rather than why you ride it.
Instead, what the Fediverse is, is a place to have conversations online without algorithms, AI, and ads getting in the way.
Which is increasingly a rare thing online.
Almost the entirety of the internet, from SEO on the web to YouTube to TikTok to Spotify to Instagram and X and Facebook, has been turned into a race to game an algorithm designed to sell ads.
What makes the Fedi unique is that it's not that.
https://gts.sadauskas.id.au/@aj/statuses/01KHCQFQVEXJKWT7X2HEH5WW1H

• open https://openalex.org and search for "fediverse"
  lots of interesting hits
  • add Author stats, see that there is around 200 authors - not just a few prolific authors/groups
  • sort by "citation count", explore the most cited papers
• stats from 2024 with world map https://www.sfscon.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/173071555849720241026-tobiasd-SFSCon24-aboutFediverse.en_.pdf#page=8
• Fediverse: built on open standards and free software
• "Tree and branches" illustration by Per Axbom
• Fediverse (social networking) is still tiny compared to corporate "social media", let's grow it together! Fediverse network stats.
• https://jointhefediverse.net/learn
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse
• https://www.theoverview.art/fediverse

Getting started on the Fediverse

• https://blog.elenarossini.com/my-fediverse-starter-guide
• För svenska Fediverse https://wiki.konstellationen.org/sv/guider/mastodon-hitta-folk
• https://critical-switch.org/en/posts/introduction-to-the-fediverse - good text, good illustrations
• https://fedi.tips
• https://fediverse.info
• https://www.sfscon.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/173071555849720241026-tobiasd-SFSCon24-aboutFediverse.en_.pdf#page=11
• https://fedidb.com/welcome
• Try to avoid joining the biggest instances, in particular don't choose mastodon.social. For the health of the federated ecosystem.
• https://fediverse.party - a more visual overview of the largest Fediverse galaxies
• Mastodon tools and services https://links.solarchemist.se/shaare/8mVBaQ
• Fediverse Observer https://links.solarchemist.se/shaare/jXx_gA

Finding people to follow

• https://github.com/nathanlesage/academics-on-mastodon
• https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-find-accounts-to-follow-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-how-do-i-find-my-friends
• https://fedinyheter.nyhetskartan.se/hitta-svenskar-i-fediversum
• https://streetpass.social - a browser extension that helps you find Mastodon users as you browse the web

Useful or fun stuff built on top of Fedi

• Guide to how to use "operators" to search Mastodon effectively https://social.growyourown.services/@FediTips/116047804904821397
• https://mastodon.academy/by/@solarchemist@scholar.social (replace with any account you want to "profile")
• https://axbom.me/notice/B1kPrJcGYq6RXnAbXE - service for linking to a page where people can follow you on the Fediverse

Examples and more background

• University of Groningen Library ditching Youtube in favour of PeerTube https://social.edu.nl/@Bibliothecaris/115622191356250599
• https://blog.zaramis.se/2026/02/18/de-fria-sociala-medierna
• https://fedinyheter.nyhetskartan.se/mastodon-infor-nytt-satt-att-rekommendera-instans

What about Bluesky and other Big Tech?

Elena Rossini har en nice presentation https://blog.elenarossini.com/if-big-tech-social-platforms-are-junk-food-and-the-fediverse-is-a-healthy-home-cooked-meal-then-what-is-bluesky

• does not federate with the Fediverse (unless the user herself sets up a "bridge")
• false promise of decentralization using the AT protocol
• your block list is publicly visible
• algorithms (controlled by the platform owner) are still king
• heavily financed by crypto-bros and other opaque sources

As a step on the journey away from Twitter it is not too bad. But please don't stop there - continue the journey towards the free, open web.

• Despite what this report says, I would not say that "Threads and Bluesky" are "services in the fediverse". Threads does federate with the Fediverse, but in my opinion that is only a cynical effort by Facebook to "embrace, extend, and extinguish."

• https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2021/10/addictive-potential-of-social-media-explained.html - book review of "Dopamine Nation" (2021) by Anna Lembke.

• Is Big Tech social media the new tobacco? https://mastodon.social/@leavex/116020298210824813