We Distribute

As far as I know, Diaspora still does not have events functionality.

Two other federated, free, and open social networking platforms that do have events functionality are Friendica and Hubzilla.

https://friendi.ca/

https://project.hubzilla.org/page/hubzilla/hubzilla-project

I have not looked too much into Hubzilla, but I set up a test Friendica account and was very impressed! My first thought was, "this is so much better than Diaspora. How did Diaspora get all the news coverage?"

They were both developed by Mike Macgirvin, a former Facebook employee who left in early 2010 because he was "...was increasingly concerned about the directions they were taking related to personal privacy." That quote is from a very interesting interview with him about federated social networking at:

https://medium.com/we-distribute/got-zot-mike-macgirvin-45287601ff19

I discovered all this through the "Fediverse.party" website:

https://fediverse.party/

HN Discussion about Fediverse.party:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16667050

Edit: formatting, typos, clarity

I'm planning to setup Hubzilla as a forum/wiki for my local radio group and local tech community. Hubzilla might not have everything right (I would prefer the scuttlebut/patchwork approach), but it definitely checks most boxes for me. The key one being Nomadic identity - they can export everything they've ever posted and upload it to another server. This is really crucial (not for my club, but for other groups). Hubzilla also federates with ostatus, diospara, gnusoc, frendica, mastadon, and others.

Hubzilla only has a few thousand users. In a social media world, that's a rounding error. So my thought is that people should setup Hubzilla for a targeted group. Get an active community of dozens or possibly hundreds of people, and if they like the platform, encourage them to invite other people and start additional communities. Or find communities through the federation.

https://project.hubzilla.org/page/hubzilla/hubzilla-project

https://medium.com/we-distribute/the-do-everything-system-an-in-depth-review-of-hubzilla-3-0-692204177d4e

Network effects can occur in federated networks as long as different platforms cooperate and communicate.

Currently, the Fediverse[1] exists through multiple free software platforms and online communities. (Like Mastodon[2])

This can and should expand to include Twitter/FB/others but that would go against their mantra of owning the platform to ensure maximum profits/rent-seeking and power over information. (Platform Capitalism[3])

[1]: https://medium.com/we-distribute/a-quick-guide-to-the-free-network-c069309f334

[2]: https://joinmastodon.org/

[3]: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Platform+Capitalism-p-9781509504862

No idea, unfortunately; that Mastodon page is all I know of it. I'm keeping an eye on it though, just in case. I agree that that would definitely be cool.

Edit: Some more info at these links:

- https://medium.com/we-distribute/prismo-is-a-decentralized-link-sharing-app-powered-by-activitypub-f03bfe1cf935

- https://mastodon.social/@prismo/100289732805767260

- https://mastodon.social/@prismo/100237371462435727

> Individual instances might be able to choose between representing themselves as one big subreddit, or as a collection of multiple subreddits.

Doesn't sounds like the Diaspora team have any plans to implement AP, which is a shame. Here's a fairly scathing write-up on ActivityPub from a prominent Diaspora dev:
https://schub.io/blog/2018/02/01/activitypub-one-protocol-to-rule-them-all.html

Friendi.ca and Hubzilla can already interoperate with Diaspora using the Diaspora protocol. Here's a good guide to the current landscape of free code, federated social networks here, and which protocols each app supports:
https://medium.com/we-distribute/a-quick-guide-to-the-free-network-c069309f334

Quoting from https://medium.com/we-distribute/faces-of-the-federation-christopher-allan-webber-on-mediagoblin-and-activitypub-24bbe212867e

> Aardwolf, Bridgy Fed, distbin.com, dokieli, Funkwhale, Hubzilla, Kroeg, Mastodon, Nextcloud, Numaverse, PeerTube, places.pub, Pubstrate, Smilodon, tags.pub, Pleroma, Pump.io, and Rustodon are all either implementors of or are currently implementing ActivityPub.

In addition to those, https://pixelfed.org/ is in the process of implementing federation with AP.