The Fediverse is a collection of thousands of independent homegrown social networks, all linked together into a single super-network using open standards that no one controls. It has millions of users talking to each other. To get a general idea of how this works, you can watch an introductory video about the Fediverse ⧉ and a similar video about Mastodon ⧉, the most popular part of the Fediverse.

Because all the servers are independent and linked only by open standards, the Fediverse itself cannot be bought or sold. This protects it from any nasty billionaires or corporations trying to take it over.

Anyone can set up their own Fediverse server (also known as an “instance”), and it lets them follow anyone else on the Fediverse, including people on completely different servers. This gives homegrown social networks the best of both worlds: independence within a massive global community.

(By the way, the Fediverse is decentralised in a traditional way, like email or the telephone network. It does NOT use blockchain, cryptocurrency, web3, tokens, coins or anything like that.)

To find out more about making your own independent social network on the Fediverse, visit the Grow your own social network page.

To find out more about using the Fediverse, visit the Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse ⧉.