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What exactly is the Fediverse?
(discuss.online)
Is it any service that includes the ability to federate? If so, are Matrix/XMPP/other non-ActivityPub services part of the Fediverse, or does Fediverse really just mean ActivityPub?
The context is wanting to promote a Matrix chat room on discuss.online: #online.discuss:discuss.online (see post). Does it belong in Lemmy communities like this one, !fedigrow@lemm.ee, etc? Or does it not count as part of the Fediverse?
I think that ATP and nostr are sometimes included as part of the Fediverse because they both have bridges that allow connection. Without the bridges they're isolated.
ATP still requires millions to host a relay https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/13/24342799/free-our-feeds-social-media-ecosystem-at-protocol-bluesky
This isn’t the same thing.
Bluesky has something called fedibridge (third party), where your entire account is forwarded to mastodon and acts like a native mastodon account when viewed from mastodon. (It works the other way around too, mastodon accounts can be viewable on bluesky thanks to it).
A relay is something that hosts the viewable content on the ATprotocol. Currently, the only relay that encompasses the entire AT protocol is hosted by bluesky PBC, though there are a few very small relays for specific niches.
Thanks for sharing the article though, I had not heard of free our feeds.
I was mostly referring to the fact that the day Bluesky decides to ban bridges, ATProto won't be part the Fediverse as per the definition of the comment above.
I personally prefer to just consider them as out from the start.