WordPress and the Fediverse

Alex Kirk

Blog	https://alex.kirk.at/
ActivityPub	@alex@kirk.at
Matrix	@alex:kirk.at

What is the Fediverse?

• Federated (Social) Services
• Federation: someone else hosts your data but it's your choice who that someone is
• To get started, you need to specify your server
• A little more complex than centralized services

Why Federation?

• Centralized services are a single point of failure
• A single person or company can suddenly change the rules, APIs, etc.

Centralized

Centralized with spy

Federated

Federated with 3 Servers

Federated with spy

Examples of Fediverses

• Twitter → Mastodon
• Facebook → Friendica
• Instagram → Pixelfed
• Slack , Discord , WhatsApp , Signal , ...
  → Matrix
• E-Mail
• Blogging: WordPress.com , Substack ,
  Medium , self-hosted

Protocols of Fediverses

• Mastodon, Friendica, Pixelfed: ActivityPub
• Matrix:
• E-Mail: SMTP, IMAP
• Blogging: RSS
• Often 2 protocols / variants:
  server-to-server, server-to-client (offline!)

Twitter → Mastodon

• Twitter recently made a lot of changes, cut off apps, increased API prices, etc.
• In the tech community, many people migrated to Mastodon
• Mastodon is a gGmbH (non-profit company) in Germany, owns the trademark
• Mastodon is open source software that talks ActivityPub

Mastodon

How do I start to use the Fediverse?

• Before you can start, you need to choose a server
• Often everyone flocks to the best known server
• → danger of re-centralization!
• username@server becomes your identity.
  Choose wisely!

Types of Mastodon Servers

• Topic related, Country related
• 
  https://joinmastodon.org/servers

How to choose a Mastodon Server?

• A server is sometimes also called "instance"
• You choose the "@server" in username@server → it becomes your identity
• Why Topic related or Country related?
• → Local timelines

WordPress Related

• e.g. wpbuilds.social, dewp.space, wp-social.net, wptoots.social, fosstodon.org, phpc.social
• https://www.danielauener.com/the-wordpressers-guide-to-the-fediverse/
• Use your own WordPress?

Mastering the Fediverse

1. Share to the Fediverse
2. Be part of the Fediverse
3. Be the Fediverse

1. Share to the Fediverse

• Use the Fediverse as a multiplicator
• Write a post on WordPress, share to the Fediverse → more visitors
• Many plugins: Mastodon Auto Share, Mastodon Autopost, Share on Mastodon
• How? You might know it from Twitter: You connect your WordPress with your Mastodon account

1. Share to the Fediverse

• When you post something, a post ("note") on your Mastodon account is created
• Typically: Title + URL
• → that note will be shared with all your followers on Mastodon
• The sender is your (hosted) Mastodon account

1. Share to the Fediverse

1. Share to the Fediverse

2. Be part of the Fediverse

• Teach your WordPress speak the same protocol as Mastodon: ActivityPub
• → ActivityPub plugin
• Your WordPress post is your post on Mastodon
• People don't follow your Mastodon account but they follow your blog
• Your identity = @username@my.blog

2. Be part of the Fediverse

• People directly follow your WordPress, you tell them to follow @username@my.blog
• When you post something, it directly sends your post to all your followers
• Thus, WordPress keeps track of your followers
• The posts come from @username@my.blog
• You use Mastodon to follow others and write status posts

2. Be part of the Fediverse

2. Be part of the Fediverse

3. Be the Fediverse

• Follow people on Mastodon, without having to choose your server (your blog is your server)
• → Friends plugin + ActivityPub plugin
• Like a Mastodon instance, with your own identity
• @username@my.blog

3. Be the Fediverse: Friends

3. Be the Fediverse

Use Mastodon Apps

• Nice apps exist for Mastodon on many platforms
• You can also use them with your own WordPress!
• → Enable Mastodon Apps plugin
• Makes your blog talk the Mastodon API
• Tusky, Ivory, Pinafore, Elk, Mona, ...
• (Works also well without ActivityPub+Friends for shared blogs and/or a slim posting experience)

Mastodon Experience

ActivityPub plugin by

• People from Mastodon directly follow your blog
• Your blog can be followed like a Mastodon account
• When someone replies, it arrives at your blog as a comment on the post
• Your blog maintains your list of followers
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub

Friends plugin by

• Mission: Your WordPress is your online identity
• People focussed: multiple RSS/ActivityPub feeds per person
• Private post sharing just with connected blogs
• Save full articles → send them to your E-Reader
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/friends

Friends: People Focussed

Friends: People Focussed

Friends: People Focussed

Enable Mastodon Apps plugin by

• Implements the same API as the real Mastodon
• Enter your blog URL as instance in Mastodon apps
• Not the whole API implemented yet, but usable
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/enable-mastodon-apps

Enable Mastodon Apps Settings

Super Easy to join the fediverse

• Your own WordPress + plugins
  ActivityPub, Friends, EMA
• Use the Mastodon apps
• Identity: @username@my.blog

Mastodon tidbits

• No lock in: You can move to another server and take your followers along
• You need to host it yourself for a nice address (e.g. with masto.host; No virtual hosts, see #2668)
• Complex software stack (Ruby, Postgres, Redis, ElasticSearch) → use your own WordPress?

Matrix

• Real-time chat, end to end encrypted
• Aims to replace Slack; also WhatsApp, Signal, etc.
• Federated, using homeservers
• Multi-messenger with Matrix possible today with Beeper (join the waitlist)

Matrix and WordPress

• WordPress.org will switch from Slack to Matrix
• Embed a Matrix chat directly on your own WordPress with Chatrix
• Gutenberg block around the Hydrogen client
• Can be restricted to a single room
• WordPress.org: SSO to use your own WordPress account as an account on Matrix

Matrix and WordPress: Chatrix

Matrix and WordPress: SSO

Blogging is also federated

• Openness: anyone can follow your RSS feed
• Comments have a spam problem → will certainly also arrive in the Fediverse
• Web of trust → connect WordPresses?
• IndieWeb, Gemini (Small web)

Summary

• The Fediverse has many facets
• ActivityPub is recently the best known protocol
• WordPress fits well into the puzzle
• You can choose to which degree you want to integrate WordPress

Links

• wordpress.org/plugins/share-on-mastodon
• wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub
• wordpress.org/plugins/friends
• wordpress.org/plugins/enable-mastodon-apps
• joinmastodon.org/servers
• joinfediverse.wiki

Slides

https://alex.kirk.at/wcvie-2023/

Acknowledgements

• Presentation Framework: Reveal.js
• SVG animations: Keyshape.app