User:Tommi/PMOMMs/Fediverse Join Party

A Project that May Or May not be Made to involve people in the Fediverse.

What is it?

A party during which all the attendees make a pact vowing to uninstall any other social media app for <math display="inline">x</math> weeks, and to exclusively use the Fediverse during that time.

During the party, they will only exchange Fediverse contacts with each other, so that if they’ll have to go back to it if they want to stay in touch with the people they met.

Why make it?

• Because the Fediverse is fantastic
• Because the problem with Fediverse adoption is that people don’t get an “algorithmic” endorphine hit immediately after they joined. Therefore, they need some reason beyond it’s the ethical social network to keep getting back to it.
• Because social media is getting more and more disconnected from the real world, and it would be nice to use the Fediverse just as a way to keep in touch with a group of friends you met in person.
• Because giving your Instagram handle is the de-facto standard social protocol to exchange contact information at non-formal events. Nevertheless, Instagram is not an independent tool nor a public space: it is a closed and for-profit platform, owned by a corporation. Integrating it in our daily lives corresponds to giving up on being monitored by surveillance capitalism (I am not blaming who is still on Instagram, just observing that if you stay there you are necessarily making a trade-off).

Workflow

1. Organise an event in a location that…
   • …is not closely tied or directly involved with digital rights already
   • …is not associated with serious/brainy/intellectual events or activities, but rather more on social/fun things
2. The party needs a name that is not strictly related to the Fediverse, so that it does not make people sceptical or think it is not going to be a fun and light event.
3. Make the event RSVP, and while booking their participation people are asked a few short questions about what they think about social media and their relationship with them.
4. Host the event (see the timetable).
5. Check-in with participants to ask how the experiment is going (via email? Via Fediverse? Potentially in a Fediverse group?).

Timetable

The beginning of the event is like a regular party: people join, the music is playing and there are some drinks.

Intervention

At some point during the first half of the party, there is an intervention: a ≤1 minute speech or video that introduces the challenge and its meaning to party attendees.

Explanation and onboarding

If people are curious and they want to learn more beyond merely accepting the challenge, they can go to an info point or to a particular location in the venue where they can find people who help them with Fediverse onboarding.

Previous practice

• Knitting Our Internet a workshop to introduce people to the meaning of decentralisation.
• Luring in the Fediverse any person I have known for at least five minutes
• Talking about the Fediverse all the time

Relation to a wider context

There are many interesting websites and resources introducing the Fediverse, but there are no in-person initiatives, that I know of.

Some of the most prominent Fediverse 101 websites:

• Fedi.Tips
• Join the fediverse!
• Fediverse on Wikipedia
• Fediverse on Join the Fediverse wiki
• What is the Fediverse? in Meta’s documentation 😱

Challenges

• How/When to effectively explain what the Fediverse is and how it works without killing the vibe of the party?

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29 April 2026

Notes from FediForum