Title: Can’t Follow You! Author: Alex Kirk Published: June 19, 2025 --- # Can’t Follow You! June 19, 2025 So, I created this little website [https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/](https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/) as something that you can send to people who don’t realize that they are on a closed network and what it means to others. A bit like [Let me Google that for you](https://letmegooglethat.com/) but for the Fediverse. Here is the backstory, and some details around it: I attended (German-spoken) [FediCamp Graz 2025](https://graz.fedi.camp/) last Saturday( see [Heinz Wittenbrink’s summary in German](https://wittenbrink.net/das-erste-grazer-fedicamp/)) where we discussed a plethora of topics around the Fediverse, barcamp-style. One question that we discussed and that has been bugging me for a long time, is why people are quite unwilling to switch to federated, open networks. One reason is certainly is inertia. I guess it’s a human property to stick with what you know. Also change means work. Another reason is ignorance. You know, like “bliss.” It can be comforting to focus on the [good sides of your social consumption and not deal too much with the negative sides](https://alex.kirk.at/2025/04/24/wordpress-as-a-refuge-from-algorithms/). Following a train of thought, I realized that maybe many people don’t realize that they can’t be followed by people who are not on their network. And don’t realize that this is a lock-in by the platform that is not necessary. To combat this, I created a [little one-page website](https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/)( [source on Github](https://github.com/akirk/cantfollowyou), open to PRs!) that is meant as something that you can take and send this URL to a person you’d like to follow who is on a closed social network. [[ A personalized URL [https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/insta/Alex](https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/insta/Alex) shows the closed network and it’s alternative It contains a table of ActivityPub equivalents of social networks (see also my WordCamp Europe 2025 presentation [What you’re missing if you don’t have your own WordPress](https://europe.wordcamp.org/2025/session/what-youre-missing-if-you-dont-have-your-own-wordpress/); [slides](https://alex.kirk.at/wceu2025/), [video](https://wordpress.tv/2025/06/07/what-youre-missing-if-you-dont-have-your-own-wordpress/)): [[ At the bottom of the page you can customize it: ![](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/cantfollowyou-enter. gif) Probably this is not going to change the needle significantly, but I see this as a little contribution to enable raising awareness about the problem. The decentralized fediverse surely has a steeper learning curve because you need to make a choice before you start. But I think it’s worth it. ###### Fediverse Reactions * [ ⌊James Huff :prami_pride_pan:⌉ ](https://social.lol/@macmanx) * [ ⌊Simon⌉ ](https://dewp.space/@simon) * [ ⌊Peter Müller⌉ ](https://mastodon.social/@pmmueller) * [ ⌊Thomas Kräftner⌉ ](https://mastodon.social/@kraftner) * [ ⌊Annette Schwindt⌉ ](https://bonn.social/@annette) * [ ⌊Bandar Baru⌉ ](https://mastodon.social/@bandarbaru_1) * [ ⌊Aurin Azadî⌉ ](https://mastodon.de/@atarifrosch) * [ ⌊André Menrath⌉ ](https://graz.social/@linos) * [ ⌊Pauxlll Kruczynski⌉ ](https://mastodon.social/@paulkruczynski) * [ ⌊Simon⌉ ](https://dewp.space/@simon) * [ ⌊Peter Müller⌉ ](https://mastodon.social/@pmmueller) * [ ⌊Donncha Ó Caoimh⌉ ](https://mastodon.ie/@donncha) * [ ⌊Thomas Kräftner⌉ ](https://mastodon.social/@kraftner) * [ ⌊Matthias Zöchling⌉ ](https://mas.to/@CSSence) * [ ⌊Irene Bär⌉ ](https://freiburg.social/@irene) * [ ⌊mike @here⌉ ](https://social.coop/@herebox) [Fediverse](https://alex.kirk.at/category/fediverse/), [Web](https://alex.kirk.at/category/web/) Read this next [Previous Post](https://alex.kirk.at/2025/04/26/2499219/) ## 6 responses to “Can’t Follow You!” 1. ![Aurin Azadî Avatar](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/activitypub/ actors/2825114/f5fd1f2f12d19b9ca1ff196a2eb7cd30.webp) 2. [Aurin Azadî](https://mastodon.de/@atarifrosch) 3. [June 19, 2025](https://mastodon.de/@atarifrosch/114709327449136659) 4. [@alex](https://alex.kirk.at/author/alex/) Your site seems to be overwhelmed by the requests … 5. a. ![Alex Kirk Avatar](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/cropped- 2025.Alex-512x512-1-48x48.jpg) b. [Alex Kirk](https://alex.kirk.at/) c. [June 19, 2025](https://alex.kirk.at/2025/06/19/cant-follow-you/comment-page-1/#comment-88045) d. Indeed, doing some fine-tuning now :) hope it will now be better e. [Log in to Reply](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Falex.kirk.at%2F2025%2F06%2F19%2Fcant-follow-you%2F) 6. ![Navi :therian: Avatar](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/activitypub/ actors/2825113/b8e203c47366ae68c7bc07b97100833d.webp) 7. [Navi ⌊therian⌉](https://catcatnya.com/@navi) 8. [June 19, 2025](https://catcatnya.com/@navi/114709614315462820) 9. [@alex](https://alex.kirk.at/author/alex/) I don’t want to have Facebook^WMeta in my network, actually 10. a. ![Alex Kirk Avatar](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/cropped- 2025.Alex-512x512-1-48x48.jpg) b. [Alex Kirk](https://alex.kirk.at/) c. [June 19, 2025](https://alex.kirk.at/2025/06/19/cant-follow-you/comment-page-1/#comment-88051) d. I am not arguing to get all of Facebook on the Fediverse :-) But there are people that I care about that unfortunately Facebook/Meta/Other-Network managed to get them in, and I believe they should rather be on a network that allows me to follow them. It is about explaining this to selected people. e. [Log in to Reply](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Falex.kirk.at%2F2025%2F06%2F19%2Fcant-follow-you%2F) 11. ![emanuelegori Avatar](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/activitypub/ actors/2566755/d22e78d9d74a5863ef485ec1abcba29a-1448.webp) 12. [emanuelegori](https://emanuelegori.uno/author/emanuelegori/) 13. [June 27, 2025](https://emanuelegori.uno/?c=6) 14. Hi [@alex](https://alex.kirk.at/author/alex/) 15. I’m Emanuele and I recently discovered your website [https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/](https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/). I find it a very useful and interesting project to raise awareness about closed networks and the Fediverse. 16. I am Italian and I was wondering if it would be possible to add an Italian translation to the site. I think it could be useful to reach a wider audience and make the message accessible to more people. 17. Thanks for your time and for your work on this project! 18. a. ![Alex Kirk Avatar](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/cropped- 2025.Alex-512x512-1-48x48.jpg) b. [Alex Kirk](https://alex.kirk.at/) c. [June 27, 2025](https://alex.kirk.at/2025/06/19/cant-follow-you/comment-page-1/#comment-88055) d. Oh, that would be fantastic! I don’t speak enough Italian to do it myself, would you be willing to contribute them to Github? These are the strings that need translation: [https://github.com/akirk/cantfollowyou/blob/main/index.php#L2-L24](https://github.com/akirk/cantfollowyou/blob/main/index.php#L2-L24) e. [Log in to Reply](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Falex.kirk.at%2F2025%2F06%2F19%2Fcant-follow-you%2F) ### Leave a Reply 󠀁[Cancel reply](https://alex.kirk.at/2025/06/19/cant-follow-you/?output_format=md#respond)󠁿 Only people in [my network](https://alex.kirk.at/friends/) can comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. [Learn how your comment data is processed.](https://akismet.com/privacy/)