@_elena there's one big difference.

On the fediverse social network when a gentle well-behaved #fedizen sees their post going viral means they know they have a duty and a freaking day job to politely handle all the insightful replies that they got.

To reasonable extent, of course. I had to throw the towel in the ring the other day: https://social.coop/@smallcircles/113508347273236434

On corporate social media where influencers fire-and-forget their content strikes, going viral refers to mass infection and bio warfare.

More recs about people to follow for someone who just joined:
- @evan @cwebber @pfefferle ActivityPub royalty (it's thanks to them this magic is possible)
- @dansup creator of @pixelfed + many other Fediverse projects
- @docpop host / producer of the Fediverse Files (must see for newbies) https://youtu.be/t4pmWufYRr0?si=CAxqQRa9a3yGy_vR
- @molly0xfff & @kissane for their brilliant tech commentary
- @GottaLaff for political news
- @lisamelton boosts superb content
- the 2 Stefans @stefan@stefanbohacek.online @stefan@gardenstate.social (awesome side projects)

@_elena @poliverso @phanpy @ivory @MonaApp @pixelfed @Tusky @MoogleMaestro

Some corrections from technical perspective here.

> I was able to scroll through my Pixelfed feed using an app originally intended for Mastodon.
> This is the beauty and the magic of ActivityPub: interoperability between Fediverse software seamlessly works.

This is NOT ActivityPub.

This is Mastodon being SO LARGE of a platform that other platforms like Pixelfed implement their own Mastodon-compatible API's.

Technical proof just in case:
Mastodon API: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/methods/accounts/#verify_credentials
Pixelfed API: https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed/blob/32d4b63a236c46cc7b538e7d64d69be830f4922d/routes/api.php#L94

Same goes for Pleroma and some other platforms.

And this is NOT related to the federation. Federation and ActivityPub come into action when instances communicate with each other.

> Mastodon earns over 19,000 Euros a month via Patreon donations. This gives me peace of mind

Just in case, this is somewhat equal to a salary of 2-4 developers in EU or US. But if managed carefully it still gives Mastodon a stable footing.

Nice article otherwise 👍

P.S. I'd also add that it's a good idea to support your instance by subscribing to donations if possible since a lot of instances are paid out of owner's pocket.

I've been running a one-person instance since 2011, and I occasionally contribute code.

The plugin system has been mentioned, but that's just the technical outcome of a core cultural differentiator: Friendica forswears all purity tests. While others bicker about whether Threads or Bluesky is good enough for the Fediverse, Friendica just connects to them, as long as they're willing. In the past that included reviled platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and that only ended when they stopped connecting to us, not the other way round.

So if you're sick of the Fedidrama, Friendica is a refuge.

One thing not widely known that I wished got more attention: the Events support. It's currently limited because no-one can agree what the standard says. But Friendica's implementation seems more advanced than any others. Imagine instead of clicking "like", you click "attend", and 1. all your followers see that you're attending, 2. the event organiser's followers see the attendee count tick up, and 3. the event appears automatically in your phone's calendar, with an address and reminders. I hope other platforms take inspiration from this. It could end up being important, e.g. for bands.