The Fediverse Explained: How Mastodon Actually Works

[kevin1]

At the heart of Mastodon is the “Fediverse” — a group of social platforms connected through the ActivityPub protocol. When you join Mastodon, you pick a server that matches your interests, location, or values, and your username includes that server’s address. Despite this, you can still follow, reply to, and boost posts from users on any other Mastodon server.

This model changes how social media feels day-to-day. Instead of a single algorithm deciding what you see, Mastodon offers Home, Local, and Federated timelines, letting users choose between personal feeds, community posts, or the wider network. It’s more manual and less addictive by design — a tradeoff many users are happy to make.