The next stage of social networking

1. The Decentralized Web
The next stage of social networking

2. Decentralization is not the future, it’s the present

3. The Fediverse
What is it?
The ensemble of federated (i.e.
interconnected) servers that are
used for web publishing (i.e. social
networking, microblogging,
blogging, or websites) and file
hosting, but which, while
independently hosted, can
communicate with each other.
Source: Wikipedia

4. 3,954,373
Current Fediverse Users
(with the exception of the Matrix)

5. Fediverse Statistics
● 425,433,263 posts
● 12,664,274 comments
● 7,894 nodes
● 49 projects
● 14 protocols

6. Popular Fediverse Projects
● WordPress
● Mastodon
● Nextcloud
● diaspora*
● Friendica
● WriteFreely
● PeerTube
● Pleroma
● Hubzilla
● Funkwhale
● GNU Social
● Misskey
● Matrix (Synapse)
● Pixelfed
● Prosody
● Plume
● ActivityRelay
● Lemmy
● Numaverse
● Pump.io
● Read.as
● Nodetube
...with WT.social joining soon!

7. What is it?
An open, de-centralized networking
protocol that provides an API for
creating, updating, and deleting
content, as well as a federated
server-to-server API for delivering
notifications and content.
Source: Wikipedia

8. ActivityPub was
introduced on
January 3, 2018
by the W3C

9. Who is the W3C?
Founded and currently led by Tim Berners-Lee, the W3C is the main standards
organization for the worldwide web. They have standardized:
● HTML (HTML5)
● CSS
● XML
● XForms
● Web storage

10. 2,903,973
Users of ActivityPub in 1½ years
ActivityPub is now ¾ of the entire Fediverse

11. ActivityPub is to
HTTP what HTTP
was to TCP/IP.

12. ActivityPub Could Be The Future
TCP/IP bridged disparate systems
and allowed them to communicate
reliably. HTTP allowed the various
services built on TCP/IP to
communicate with each other
reliably.
ActivityPub goes one step further and
provides a way for users on those
services to communicate in a way
that has the appearance of
directness.
Source: Key Fox

13. 12/17/2018The date that Tumblr banned all adult content on its platform

14. How did adult content-focused Tumblr users adjust?

15. They created new
Mastodon
instances

17. Censorship
As more centralized services like
Twitter and Facebook de-platform and
ban users, these users are migrating
to the Fediverse because
decentralization offers something
unmatched:
The ability to self-host and own their
own data.

18. Even far-right, Fascist Gab.ai joined the Fediverse
(The Fediverse response)

19. Benefits of the Fediverse
● Open standards
● Decentralized
● Ability to self-host
● Censorship-resistant
● Capable of redundancies

20. But hold on!
The Fediverse is not the solution

21. Drawbacks of the Fediverse
● Unencrypted networks*
● No self-sovereign identity
● Not Peer-to-Peer
● Requires servers
● Difficult to scale
● Vulnerable to lawsuits
*The Matrix is an exception

22. Is the Fediverse
learning from
history?
Or will it repeat it?

23. What’s killing BitTorrent?
Litigators discovered that by conducting
surveillance on a BitTorrent tracker, they could
bulk collect participating IP addresses and
randomly file severe civic lawsuits, utilising
harsher laws reserved for distribution. Their
targets were often the economically vulnerable,
including “children, grandparents, unemployed
single mothers, college professors—a random
selection from the millions of Americans who
have used P2P networks.”
It was one piece of a broader scattershot
strategy that spared no one; infrastructure,
physical media, broadcast media, adjacent
software projects and device manufacturers
were all targeted.
Source: New Design Congress

24. Centralized Social has
decentralized roots
1. Sean Parker: Co-Founder of
Napster became early investor
& first President of Facebook
2. Evan Williams: Co-Founder of
Odeo became Co-Founder of
Twitter and Medium
3. Daniel Ek: CEO of μTorrent
became Co-Founder of Spotify
1. Parker
2. Williams
2. Ek
The Copyright Wars forced them to pivot!

25. Did creatives “win” the copyright wars?
No, tech companies ate them up!

26. Learning from Failure
How decentralization can now
succeed

27. The Solution? Identity

28. Self-Sovereign
Identity (SSI)
Privacy, Security & Trust
Decentralization is only a solution if
people can create and control their
credentials without a need for an
intermediary or centralized
authority.

30. SSI is about the
freedom to control
how personal data
is used and stored

31. SSI = Digital Rights
Full control over:
● Social media data
● Transaction records
● Colleague attestation
● Copyright
● Digital assets

32. SSI unlocks users from content hosts

33. The EU has already created the European Self-
Sovereign Identity Framework (ESSIF)

34. What’s needed?

35. An open source
mobile-ready P2P
social network
with SSI
implementation

36. Alpha coming September 30, 2020

37. Thank you!
~Chris Trottier
END