This thread is a brief explainer of a technical term used in non-corporate social media: Federation

Federation means that there is not one behemoth corporate server/website like http://facebook.com or https://twitter.com. Instead, you would join a smaller community of people you've got things in common with. Like http://witches.town for pagans. You belong to a small (or medium sized) community and can look at everybody's public posts in your community.
(1/n)

BUT! That community is part of a 'federation' other communities. So you can follow users in those other communities. If you've got a friend in http://anticapitalist.party or http://rich.gop , you can also follow them and read all their posts. Federation means you can mostly hang out with your server mates, but connect with any user anywhere.

(2/n)

This is a great way to build community. Right now, themes are mostly lighthearted, but they can be as serious as you'd like.

It's also possible for servers to block entire other servers (like http://sealion.club ) or particular users that cause trouble. Thus federation gives a lot more control over moderation. Nazis can be banished. Communities get control over moderation.

(3/n)

A related term to #federation is #fediverse, which is a collective noun referring to every federated community/server.

From the outside, #mastodonsocial looks a bit techy/jargony, but, in fact, it's a way for communities to gain control of their social networking.

(4/n)

There are currently more than 700 servers running, just for #mastodonsocial. See: https://instances.mastodon.xyz/list

Picking one is possibly a bit daunting. Ideally, you want one geographically nearby and primarily in your language. For people with some technical skills, it's also possible to set up your own server. The software is free.

(5/n)

Will this go the way of ello? Maybe, but it's still decentralised- some servers have dedicated users. Instead of being a contest as to whether a corporation makes enough money to survive, it's whether various communities persist. For example, the denizens of http://witches.town are enthusiastic and that server will probably stick around.

I think the dual focus on good moderation practices and community formation will give it some longevity.

(6/6)

@celesteh Funny. People still think Ello was a real thing.

@teslas_moustache I was never on it. I am still sort of on diaspora, though.

I think Diaspora floundered for a few reasons:
1. It launched like a startup, but before it was really ready.
2. The server-as-community aspect of federation was largely ignored. (Possibly, partly because it's hard to install)
3. Poor moderation means it's seriously troll-infested. Assholes patrol tags to harass people, making them unusable.

@teslas_moustache @celesteh i would also add that the problem with Diaspora* seems also that it speaks it's own language a bit too different from the rest of Ostatus-based federation...