• Publishers plan to use Fediverse to control traffic and attract audiences.
• The Verge and 404 Media are developing integrations to distribute content on federated platforms.
• The ActivityPub plugin simplifies site integration with Fediverse, but the transition requires time and resources.

Let's first understand the terms.

Thus, Fediverse is a network consisting of federated platforms. Each platform is managed autonomously but interacts with others through common protocols. Federated platforms are the foundation of the Fediverse, allowing users on various servers to interact and communicate, creating a unified yet decentralized network.

Why Do Publishers Choose Fediverse?

At least two media companies see the Fediverse as a tool for managing traffic and distributing materials. This is because platforms like Facebook and X are becoming less effective at bringing readers to publishers' websites.

The Verge and 404 Media are developing new functionality that will allow them to publish their materials simultaneously on their websites and federated platforms like Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky. Comments on these platforms will become comments on their websites.

«As an independent publisher, we are very excited about any opportunity to communicate directly with our readers without relying on social media platforms owned by large tech companies that can restrict our access to our audience at any time,» wrote Jason Koebler, co-founder of 404 Media, in a letter.

How to Join?

What tools do publishers use to work with the Fediverse? They use the ActivityPub plugin, which allows sites to integrate with federated platforms. Last October, WordPress added support for ActivityPub. This allowed sites built on WordPress to distribute their content in the Fediverse. This was reported by Martin Pag Ludwigsen, director of creative technology and AI at Goodby Silverstein & Partners. ActivityPub is also supported by platforms like Threads and Mastodon.

The Verge is transitioning from its own CMS, Chorus, to WordPress, a process that will be completed next year. The Verge's editor-in-chief, Nilay Patel, told Digiday that the publication will be working on this integration for most of the year.

Meanwhile, 404 Media is also working on integrating with ActivityPub. The publisher's site runs on CMS Ghost, which announced in April the development of ActivityPub support. Koebler stated that he plans to integrate 404 Media with ActivityPub as soon as this feature is available in Ghost, though he is not sure when that will be.

«It's just a protocol that defines how different platforms can interact with each other,» said Pag Ludwigsen.

He is «surprised» that this technology has not yet gained wider adoption, given that «technically, it is not very difficult to connect a publisher to the Fediverse.»

404 Media is already federated through the aggregation platform Flipboard. Since April, Flipboard makes content available to all federated social networks like Mastodon and Threads. Currently, Flipboard collaborates with over 50 publishers and aims to attract even more.

«We are actively communicating with publishers, helping them transition to the Fediverse, as this is a direct connection with their readers, eliminating the dependence on major platforms to attract subscribers. People just subscribe to the publisher directly,» said Flipboard's head of communications, Marci McCue, in a letter. «We have started to notice that publishers are increasingly coming to us with questions about federating their sites and want to learn more about the Fediverse.»

Another Path

It is a challenging period for publishers looking to find new audiences. Social media traffic has decreased, platforms are taking publishers' content, and recently Google Search implemented generative AI.

«We worked with the audience on these platforms but then lost it when platform algorithms changed. The Fediverse offers a different approach. We can create accounts anywhere, and its decentralized nature means the technology doesn't belong to any one company,» said Koebler.

The Fediverse can «solve a serious distribution problem,» said Patel. Instead of spending time creating a presence on different platforms, a publisher can do it on their own site, allowing readers to see their content on other federated platforms.

This is part of a broader trend among publishers investing more in improving their sites to make them more attractive and user-friendly.

It seems to have worked for The Verge. Loyal audiences, defined as those visiting the site five or more times a month, increased by 47% from the first to the fourth quarter of 2023, according to Patel. Time spent on the homepage increased from 6 minutes 39 seconds to 8 minutes 10 seconds over the same period, despite declining traffic, a common problem for publishers today. p>

«We need to stop being suppliers and start promoting our own products,» said Patel.

Federated platforms have a serious problem: their user base is significantly smaller than that of major players. Mastodon has about 1.8 million monthly active users, and Threads has over 130 million. But this is still significantly less than the 550 million users of X and 3 billion users of Facebook.

But Patel is not worried. He believes it's a bet worth making. «You want to bet on people who create new things, solve new problems, and persistently seek a new version of the internet,» he says.

Koebler stated, «This is just the beginning, but [Fediverse] is a more humane and human version of the internet, providing us and our audience with more control and opportunities, and we want to support this endeavor.»

For Publishers

Avoid dependency on companies that work solely for their profit. Invest in your resources and products, and work with your audience.

Forecast

Over time, the ActivityPub protocol and similar technologies will become even more popular. Fediverse platforms will grow their user base. Publishers might already be rethinking their approach to major platforms and making decisions.

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