It’s been an exciting time in the world of decentralized social media. New versions of Mammoth and Ivory launched. WordPress and Tumblr reaffirmed their commitment to integrating ActivityPub. And then both Threads and Flipboard rolled out their plans to federate.

What does this all mean for the Fediverse? How will moderation work as the Fediverse grows in leaps and bounds? Who will be next to federate? 

These are the questions tackled in today’s episode of Dot Social, the first podcast to explore the world of decentralized social media. Each episode, host (and Flipboard co-founder and CEO) Mike McCue talks to a leader in this movement; someone who sees the Fediverse’s tremendous potential and understands that this could be a significant shift for the internet. 

This time, Mike’s talking to Eugen Rochko, the founder and CEO of Mastodon. Eugen is on a hero’s journey right now. He’s not only working tirelessly to provide a safer, more trustworthy and less commercial alternative to platforms like X, but also he’s on a mission to fundamentally shift how social media works and how we connect to each other. 

This is a sprawling conversation that looks back on Mastodon’s epic year, dissects the moment we’re in today, and ponders a future filled with big changes and new ideas. More urgently, if you’re following what’s happening with Threads, it is essential listening for understanding Meta’s strategy and how the Fediverse is responding.

You can find Dot Social on Flipboard, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube and anywhere else you might listen to podcasts. 

We’re also uploading episodes now to PeerTube in the Fediverse on Flipboard’s new instance at flipboard.video. Please follow us there if you aren’t already. We plan to drop episodes here first.

Please subscribe so you never miss an episode, and don’t forget to rate, review and share, especially if you like what you hear. We’ll have a new episode coming out each week through January. 

— Mia Quagliarello, head of creator community, also has a podcast, about the art of curation