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Sloan the DEV Moderator for The DEV Team

Posted on • Edited on

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#DEVDiscuss: can the AT Protocol and the Fediverse coexist?

Hey Devs, happy Friday 🦥💚

As always, it's been an eventful week in the tech industry. We've got a lot to talk about! And today I want to discuss a question from my inbox.

Today's question comes from DEV Community Member @erinposting, who also happens to be DEV's Social Media Manager.

Can the AT Protocol and the Fediverse coexist?

Share your thoughts in the comments below! And please remember to abide by our Code of Conduct while doing so.


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Top comments (5)

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nicolasini profile image
Nico S___

I just got an invite two days ago. It's looking promising. I think this has the potential to negate the first mover advantage. Like how Microsoft had tablets way before Apple, but who cares in the end, iPads are way better.
If by Fediverse we refer to Activity Pub. Then I think there could be a future where both protocols work together for interoperability. That would be an amazing future.
Regardless. They both need to solve the friction point of having to choose a server to host your identity, and finding people to follow and content to consume. Otherwise they will remain constrained to "tech-savvy" people.

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moopet profile image
Ben Sinclair

I think the logical next step in this argument is to wonder what would happen if both ended up constrained to "tech-savvy" people in five, or ten years' time. If they never got traction in the general population.

I think ActivityPub or its compatible successor would be just fine with that. I'm not sure about AT, because I don't know enough about it, but while the goals are similar I get the feeling that socially it wants to rely on mass adoption.

That might mean that AT "wins" if it gets more people, but I don't think either has to "lose".

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sloan profile image
Sloan the DEV Moderator • Edited

In case you're unfamiliar with either of these topics, you can learn more about each by checking out their tag pages on DEV:

#atprotocol

Social networking technology created by Bluesky

#fediverse

The place on DEV to discuss all things related to the fediverse.

#activitypub

The place on DEV to discuss the ActivityPub protocol.
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exxjob profile image
exxjob

Existing "fediverse" protocols are a fundamentally flawed (unbalanced) combination of decentralized / centralized / distributed. Once an adequate replacement is established, an adequate replacement is established.

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erinposting profile image
Erin Bensinger

Interesting discussion going on in this thread over on Mastodon:

Tim Chambers: "A good discussion on Mastodon/BlueSky protocol br…" - Indieweb.Social

A good discussion on Mastodon/BlueSky protocol bridging starting here too: https://dev.to/devteam/devdiscuss-can-the-at-protocol-and-the-fediverse-coexist-4d74 cc: @activitypubblueskybridge@venera.social @@thepracticaldev@fosstodon.org

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