Social Media is broken. Can we fix it?

GadgeteerZA@beehaw.org to Technology@beehaw.org – 16 points –
youtu.be

Most people agree that Social Media is broken and that we need to find new solutions. Max DeMarco embarked on a journey to find out more about a new invention called NOSTR. This is his documentary about that journey and his interview with key players.

I've actually been on Nostr myself a few months (and did my own video about it). As with most alternative networks, you see who you put in your feed.

Watch at https://youtu.be/aA-jiiepOrE

17

You are viewing a single comment

How is this different to ActivityPub protocol that the fediverse uses? Seems like its trying to accomplish very similar things? Like how KBin and Lemmy can interact with the same content and have different layouts, apps, etc.

I suppose it's good to have alternative protocols for decentralized communication, but wouldn't it be better to focus on one and put more effort into improving it?

I tried to explain that in my own video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mSyMCJlSwA. This documentary did not really go into that. But in summary they don't have servers to log into where your ID is kept. You own your identity/profile and that stays on the client side. Every post is cryptographically signed so it is your post that no-one can alter. You send posts to a usual default of about 8 relays that pass posts on to who is following you. If one relay blocks you, or disappears, there are hundreds of others. So there is no server to delete your posts. But don't lose your public/.private key as then you've lost your access to your profile. There is no password reset by a server owner. They actually do have a bridge relay with ActivityPub so I was able to follow and reply to some Mastodon users.

Thanks for the clarification! That does make it more interesting than just an ActivityPub clone

It has some technical differences but it is basically the same. I think the Fediverse is too far ahead for it to ever catch on. I don't think enough people care about extreme censorship resistance.