12 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
12 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
# Why Federation?
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GoToSocial uses the [ActivityPub](https://activitypub.rocks/) federation protocol.
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Federation means that you can hang out not just with people on your home server, but with people all over the [Fediverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse). Your home server is part of a network of servers all over the world that all communicate using the same protocol--they speak the same 'language'. Your data is no longer centralized on one company's servers, but resides on your own server and is shared -- as you see fit -- across a resilient web of servers run by other people.
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Not all of the servers you 'federate' with will be running GoToSocial: popular implementations of ActivityPub include software like [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/), [WriteFreely](https://writefreely.org/), and many others. GoToSocial communicates seamlessly with these other servers.
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This federated approach also means that you aren't beholden to arbitrary rules from some gigantic corporation potentially thousands of miles away. Your server has its own rules and culture; your fellow server residents are your neighbors; you will likely get to know your server admins and moderators, or be an admin yourself.
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GoToSocial advocates for many small, weird, specialist servers where people can feel at home, rather than a few big and generic ones where one person's voice can get lost in the crowd.
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