Well, I’ve got the tech skills and the hardware to make it happen, but alas … linux hates me. I used to have a Mastodon and Diaspora server setup, but I was always hosting it on another platform. As I was wrapping up this website I thought I would link my peertube, only to find that my account had been deleted due to inactivity. So I decided then and there I should try my hand at hosting my own instances.
I have several different platforms I want to setup. But before I get to that, if you aren’t familiar with Decentralized and Federated social media platforms, let me help you out.
Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, TikTok, Instagram, etc. are all centralized. This means that company owns that data, and they can darn well do whatever they want with it. With a decentralized platform, it can be owned by YOU or a friend you trust, but NOT owned by a centralized organization. Enter the room: Mastodon, Diaspora, Peertube, Matrix, PixelFed, Funkwhale and more.
All of these platforms are hosted using a new protocal (new-ish) called ActivityPUB. The magic behind ActivityPub is that it allows for federated communications. Kind of like a “mesh network of interconnection”. What’s that REALLY mean? Well, it means if I have a Peertube account, you can follow that account on Mastodon and when I post a video you’ll see it in your feed there, or on Diaspora, etc. The Federation of social media is where the future is going. In fact, Threads is already doing it as well.
What’s all the fluff about though? Why is THIS better than something like twitter or facebook? Well, the REASON most people don’t want to leave facebook is, and I quote, “Because my family is here and it’s the only way to communicate for us.” What if you could be on your favorite platform like mastodon, or Diaspora, and when your family posts something you can see it there too, and you don’t need to jump around from platform to platform.
What’s my purpose for having my own instances of decentralized federated social media? Well, several reasons.
- I want to own my own data
- I want to have backups of data I post on other platforms
- I want to have a place my friends and family can join
- I want to show I can do it
What’s the problem though? *sigh* THE PROBLEM: Is that I suck with Linux. Without fail, every single time I try to follow a step by step procedure with linux I find a problem and it doesn’t work. I’m hoping I can just run these all through docker instead, but even that’s needing configuration that isn’t working out of the box. I’m still troubleshooting it though, and I guess we’ll see how it goes.
This is part of my overall home lab project that I’m hoping to get off the ground relatively soon.