This post is a work in progress. Feedback is welcome.
Government agencies around the world use a variety of ways to inform and communicate with the public, including popular social media networks. As these platforms decay in their increasing pursuit of profit, so does the access to information.
For example, Twitter, now known as X, currently requires you to be logged in to view content on the site. This makes posts from public officials inaccessible to a large portion of the population they represent and serve. Social media companies can also suppress or delay important public announcements thanks to their use of algorithmic feeds.
We urgently need a solution that gives our government officials the power to reach everyone, and more control over the way they connect with the citizens.
And the fediverse is such a solution.
What is the fediverse¶
Fediverse is often compared to email: you can use Gmail to send a message to anyone who uses Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, or any other email client, and they can respond back to you. You can even hosts your own mail server.
This is because email is built on top of technical standards that each email client implements. This is the opposite of how typical social media works, with no easy way to connect between different platforms. If you’re on Facebook, you can only talk to other people on Facebook.
Decentralized social media aims to change this, allowing people to build their own communities and still be able to reach their friends who are not part of them.
And the fediverse is the most successful effort in achieving a truly social web, where we’re all connected.
You might have already heard about Mastodon, which is one of the platforms that make up the vast and diverse fediverse network. There are many more, each focused on different aspects of social media. Like Peertube for videos, or Pixelfed for sharing photos. And if you have an account on one of these platforms, you can connect with anyone on the other platforms, much like with email.
As the fediverse grows and more companies join in, this opens up an opportunity to connect with the public in ways not possible with traditional social media.
How to join the fediverse¶
There are two options for joining the fediverse: making an account in an existing community, or creating your own community, which you can manage yourself, or using a service provider.
Running your own fediverse server has additional benefits, including full data ownership.
Fediverse tools¶
There is a variety of services and tools that help you automate your social media activity. Given Mastodon’s popularity, most tools integrate primarily with this platform. These include:
Case studies¶
European Union¶
European Union hosts their own instance at social.network.europa.eu. It’s open to all EU institutions and agencies. There is also an official Peertube instance at tube.network.europa.eu for hosting videos.
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District in Cleveland, Ohio¶
The NE Ohio Regional Sewer account on Mastodon is run by public servants working at this agency. They documented the process of moving away from corporate social media in their newsletter.