fediverse

Trying Bookwyrm

Besides programming and all kinds of IT stuff, I really like reading books. Regarding my Calibre library, I am reading between 10 and 20+ books a year. The spectrum covers a couple of IT books but mostly Science Fiction and Fantasy books.

Bookwyrm?

And since I joined Mastodon and thus the Fediverse, I came across Bookwyrm a couple of times. Bookwyrm describes itself as “[…] a social network for tracking your reading, talking about books, writing reviews, and discovering what to read next. Federation allows BookWyrm users to join small, trusted communities that can connect with one another, and with other ActivityPub services like Mastodon and Pleroma.“

Seems like I’m really off LinkedIn

I’ve written a couple of times in the past about my goal to leave #LinkedIn. The last time was a month ago, when I wrote, ‘I found my replacement for LinkedIn!‘. Since then, I’ve only logged in to add new contacts, to check if it’s someone’s birthday, or to read messages.

Loops soon SelfHosting!

I just saw this post from @dansup announcing self-hosting to be available for Loops “very soon”.

If you haven’t heard about Loops before: Loops is a short-form video platform designed for the decentralized Fediverse, where users share videos like TikTok.

Compared to TikTok, Loops offers a few notable advantages: it’s decentralized, so no single company controls the entire platform or its content. Users and communities can (soon) host their own servers and set their own moderation policies. Federation within the Fediverse is not YET there but I’m very sure it will come soon as well..

I also have an account on Loops since quite early (search “hikingdude”), but I do not (yet) post a lot of videos there. – I’m really considering the self-hosting. Maybe as soon as it’s available – or I wait until YunoHost has it in its app garden.

Comment Sections do not need to suck (maybe)

Recently I read the blog post Why Comment Sections suck – re:I want to comment on your blog post | Kami’s Corner. The article discusses the various problems of comment sections in blogs.

And actually, I wondered if a Fediverse-integration couldn’t address some of those issues:

A New Era of Social Media – Video by Elena Rossini

If you are not following Elena Rossini, you might have missed her really great video about the Fediverse. I find it a very nice and clean way – not focusing on technology but on us, the users. She doesn’t lecture or explain too much – she just shares what she’s found: a space that feels more human. No ads, no algorithmic pressure, just room to breathe and exchange. No ads, no algorithmic pressure, just us.

This video is a colorful introduction to the Fediverse, guided by filmmaker & Fediverse advocate Elena Rossini. Watch now to discover a whole new world of social media, one where privacy is respected, users are empowered, and Big Tech has no say.
Elena Rossini at: Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media

Go check it out at Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media!

And of course, follow @_elena@mastodon.social on Mastodon as well 🙂

PeerTube and Platform Control

I didn’t even plan to blog something today, but a couple of things came together around PeerTube that convinced me to drop a post today. But, maybe before we start … PeerWHAT? you might ask.

Interlude: What is PeerTube?

TL;DR: An open source / self hosted YouTube

PeerTube is a video platform that works a bit differently from sites like YouTube. Instead of one company running it, PeerTube is made up of many small, connected servers – so there’s no central control. You can watch, upload, and share videos just like you’re used to, but without ads or tracking. PeerTube also connects with other platforms like Mastodon, so videos can reach more people across the Fediverse. It’s a privacy-friendly option for discovering and sharing content on your terms.

A more technical description can be found on Wikipedia: PeerTube – Wikipedia

So what happened …

Take Back the Stream: Support PeerTube’s Mobile App

Big Tech dominates online video. Algorithms, Ads, and tracking define what we see and who gets heard. PeerTube offers a real alternative – decentralized, open-source, and powered by its users, not corporations.

Now, PeerTube is taking a critical next step: building its first official mobile app. Framasoft, the nonprofit behind the project, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to make it happen.

I found my replacement for LinkedIn!

If you’ve followed me, you might have noticed that I had pulled back my activities on LinkedIn gradually: I posted less, stopped interacting and deleted my content.

But I kept returning – only to feel the same mix of disappointment and annoyance every time. Eventually, I asked myself: Why did I keep coming back – even though it never felt useful?

Myown #UnplugTrump to more digital sovereignty

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I’m gradually moving away from “classical” Big Tech social media, focusing more on Mastodon and my own homepage.

On Mastodon, I came across Elena Rossini and followed her journey toward greater digital sovereignty. Inspired by her example, I decided to give up my YouTube channel in favor of a self-hosted PeerTube instance.

Recommended talk: Digital Sovereignty Is the New Influencer Status

This week I came across a post recommending the talk from Molly White (@molly0xff) at SXSW, talking about “Digital Sovereignty Is the New Influencer Status“.

The abstract of the talk is: “The real power move for creators is ownership and control of their work and livelihoods. This freedom is actually closer for more people than ever before! Learn from two fediverse futurists how decentralized social media facilitates better publishing, community, and business models. These speakers will cover the theoretical and the practical, including how the landscape is evolving in 2025, where creators should focus their energies, and how they might thrive with or without “walled garden” social platforms.”

It’s an interesting talk, where she’s talking about how (and WHY) she keeps her content mainly on her website and federates it to some social networks for discovery.