As a researcher of alternative social media platforms, I couldn’t resist joining the #forkiverse.
If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your story. What brought you here? What keeps you here?
@tchambers Welcome to the #Forkiverse. Listen to Casey Newton's podcast and see his engaged audience joins in. If you've ever tried to recruit friends into the #Fediverse (0 success) you'll appreciate how willing these new users are to try something new when it's made easy.
@tchambers first the #forkiverse...then...the spooniverse...
"The #Forkiverse makes all of this visible...unfolding in real time. We are watching a community take shape, with excitement, disagreement, and inevitable growing pains. Whether or not it fixes the internet is almost beside the point...in the Fediverse, community is not abstract. Community matters more than algorithms....It is intentional, contextual, and deeply shaped by where you choose to belong. And there is space, even if you have too many faces." https://maho.dev/2026/01/the-forkiverse-experiment-and-why-instance-choice-matters/
@tchambers first the #forkiverse...then...the spooniverse...
Really hope that all the hype I'm seeing about the "forkiverse" on my TL is part of a much bigger shift towards fediverse mass adoption 🤞 welcome!
"The #Forkiverse makes all of this visible...unfolding in real time. We are watching a community take shape, with excitement, disagreement, and inevitable growing pains. Whether or not it fixes the internet is almost beside the point...in the Fediverse, community is not abstract. Community matters more than algorithms....It is intentional, contextual, and deeply shaped by where you choose to belong. And there is space, even if you have too many faces." https://maho.dev/2026/01/the-forkiverse-experiment-and-why-instance-choice-matters/
The #forkiverse influx has been fun for me because (I think) it’s the biggest instance I’ve seen join where the majority of users are unaware ahead of time that there are other instances that have been around much longer, so it’s just a stream of new accounts doing the Dr Who “it’s bigger on the inside” bit on repeat.
Watching the #forkiverse come online is a good example of how to populate the Fediverse. One reason why https://a2mi.social has lasted for all these years is because we started with a core group of people who all wanted to talk to each other. It sidesteps the empty room problem.
I still expect a lot of people to drop off after the newness wears out but I also suspect a core group will stick around and slowly grow.
Hey #forkiverse people, and everyone else who has joined us recently!
You might be just learning about the thing that makes fediverse special, that it's made up of many communities spread across many servers running different platform.
Now, I won't bore anyone with how all that works, but here are two cool ways to visualize this.
- https://data.stefanbohacek.com/projects/fediverse lets you see which servers you are connected to (I made this one!)
- https://moderation-explorer.online helps you understand the shared responsibility of fediverse moderators
Hope you'll enjoy!
Greetings to the people of the #forkiverse
I hope this post reaches you. You are not alone out there
We have starterpacks, directories of people curated by people and interest https://fedidevs.com/starter-packs/?tab=community
Maybe others can even help by setting up their own starterpacks.
Also: try different apps! As you are using the fediverse there are many projects going on, with different apps, UX and so on, to name a few: the official mastodon app, tusky, moshidon, fedilab and ice cube for iOS. Try them out✨
The people making below podcast started a new instance and it's really great to see it already attracted 2400 active people in just two days. Welcome #forkiverse!
The podcast is well worth a listen as it lists all the right reasons to give Mastodon a whirl ❤️
https://podcastindex.org/podcast/5220235?episode=48116376731
Welcome to all #NewHere, inc. our #Forkiverse pals!
A couple of things a bit different here:
*Hashtags: Use em to fill and filter your feed and get found. Add to sensitive topics like politics to help others filter for their mental health.
* You're the algorithm: There's no algo pushing stuff, so Boost Hard: Boost Harder with a Vengeance! Favoriting is for humans, not algo's.
*Alt text matters: There's a lotta people with #accessibility needs, so many only boost images with #AltText.
❤️
Welcome to all #NewHere, inc. our #Forkiverse pals!
A couple of things a bit different here:
*Hashtags: Use em to fill and filter your feed and get found. Add to sensitive topics like politics to help others filter for their mental health.
* You're the algorithm: There's no algo pushing stuff, so Boost Hard: Boost Harder with a Vengeance! Favoriting is for humans, not algo's.
*Alt text matters: There's a lotta people with #accessibility needs, so many only boost images with #AltText.
❤️
The people making below podcast started a new instance and it's really great to see it already attracted 2400 active people in just two days. Welcome #forkiverse!
The podcast is well worth a listen as it lists all the right reasons to give Mastodon a whirl ❤️
https://podcastindex.org/podcast/5220235?episode=48116376731
Greetings to the people of the #forkiverse
I hope this post reaches you. You are not alone out there
We have starterpacks, directories of people curated by people and interest https://fedidevs.com/starter-packs/?tab=community
Maybe others can even help by setting up their own starterpacks.
Also: try different apps! As you are using the fediverse there are many projects going on, with different apps, UX and so on, to name a few: the official mastodon app, tusky, moshidon, fedilab and ice cube for iOS. Try them out✨
Hey #forkiverse people, and everyone else who has joined us recently!
You might be just learning about the thing that makes fediverse special, that it's made up of many communities spread across many servers running different platform.
Now, I won't bore anyone with how all that works, but here are two cool ways to visualize this.
- https://data.stefanbohacek.com/projects/fediverse lets you see which servers you are connected to (I made this one!)
- https://moderation-explorer.online helps you understand the shared responsibility of fediverse moderators
Hope you'll enjoy!
@stefan I’m going to add a referral to @FediTips for general advice to #forkiverse newcomers to #Fediverse
Hey #forkiverse people, and everyone else who has joined us recently!
You might be just learning about the thing that makes fediverse special, that it's made up of many communities spread across many servers running different platform.
Now, I won't bore anyone with how all that works, but here are two cool ways to visualize this.
- https://data.stefanbohacek.com/projects/fediverse lets you see which servers you are connected to (I made this one!)
- https://moderation-explorer.online helps you understand the shared responsibility of fediverse moderators
Hope you'll enjoy!
Watching the #forkiverse come online is a good example of how to populate the Fediverse. One reason why https://a2mi.social has lasted for all these years is because we started with a core group of people who all wanted to talk to each other. It sidesteps the empty room problem.
I still expect a lot of people to drop off after the newness wears out but I also suspect a core group will stick around and slowly grow.
The #forkiverse influx has been fun for me because (I think) it’s the biggest instance I’ve seen join where the majority of users are unaware ahead of time that there are other instances that have been around much longer, so it’s just a stream of new accounts doing the Dr Who “it’s bigger on the inside” bit on repeat.
