The Fediverse

What is the Fediverse?

The Fediverse is a network of independent social apps that can all talk to each other. Mastodon is the best known, and there are others built for photos, writing, and video.

Think of it like email. You might use one provider and a friend uses another, but you can still write to each other. Nobody owns the whole thing, and there is no single company in the middle.

Moments speaks this same language, so your journal can be part of that wider network, quietly, when it is enabled.

How Moments uses the Fediverse

It is a journal setting. When it is on, your journal gets an address like @you@moments.im, and people can follow it from Mastodon and other Fediverse apps.

That does not mean every public moment is sent everywhere. You choose which moments are shared beyond your journal. Those moments can appear on the Moments community page and in the feeds of people who follow your journal from the open web.

Conversation is also a moment choice. Some moments invite replies. Others are better left quiet. When conversation is enabled, people can reply from Mastodon and other Fediverse apps, and those replies appear below the moment.

What it is not

This does not turn Moments into a social network. There are still no likes, no algorithms, and no public follower counts. Nothing to perform for, nothing to chase.

You choose which moments are shared beyond your journal. Private and unlisted moments stay private and are never sent anywhere.

How to reply to a moment

If a moment is open to replies, you will see a Conversation section at the bottom. Here is the simplest way to join in.

1. 1

   Open the reply box

   Under the moment, find the Conversation section and choose Reply.

2. 2

   Enter your instance

   Type the home of your Fediverse account, like mastodon.social. It is the part after the second @ in your handle. We remember it for next time.

3. 3

   Reply from your own account

   We open your app with the moment ready to reply. Write your reply there, as you normally would.

4. 4

   See it appear

   Once your reply reaches Moments, it shows up in the Conversation section. This can take a moment.

How to follow a journal

Every open journal has an address like @name@moments.im. Search for it from Mastodon or your Fediverse app and follow it. New public moments can then arrive in your feed.

I have a journal. How do I control this?

It is off until you turn it on. Open Journal Settings, then Open web, to give your journal a Fediverse address and let people follow it. From there it is a per-moment choice: each moment you share beyond your journal can reach your followers, and you can allow replies on the moments that invite them. You can change your mind at any time.