Political Education Opening: Fediverse

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Description

Community Agreements

Icebreaker

In 2010, four New York University students raised $20,000 via Kickstarter to launch "Diaspora" - a social networking site that was federated. Instead of just one web site controlled by one corporation, anyone could launch a Diaspora "pod" and connect to others. They failed. Many other attempts were made since then, including Friendica, GNU Social and others before Mastodon came along.

  • Federation seems like such a good idea - why did it take so long to catch on?
  • What problems persist in the fediverse?
  • What new problems have been created?