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For the past few years, the virtual FediForum conference has offered a look at the latest developments in the open social web, with last year’s major update being Threads’ entrance into the fediverse. This year’s event was no exception, featuring several developers showcasing new apps that aim to enhance the ecosystem of decentralized social networks.
During FediForum, Bonfire announced the release of Bonfire Social 1.0 as the platform’s first “flavor.” Bonfire Social offers “a pre-configured bundle of Bonfire extensions that defines which features are included,” such as custom feeds, profiles, and threaded discussions, alongside the ability to share posts and follow other users.
The creators of Bonfire are developing additional “flavors” of the platform, including Bonfire Community, tailored for private groups and organizations, and Open Science, a platform for collaboration among academic communities. Bonfire Social federates with Mastodon, Peertube, Mobilizon, and others. You can now install Bonfire Social or explore the demo.
Another new service announced at FediForum is Channel.org, which is designed to help you curate the content you see across the open social web. Users can tailor their feed by tracking specific hashtags and users, including bridged Bluesky accounts and RSS parrots. Other users can follow the channels you create, which are distributed across the Fediverse, Bluesky, and over RSS. You can filter out certain keywords and mute accounts not related to the topics you want to follow, and there are also built-in filters that block NSFW content and hate speech.
Channel.org is built on a customized Mastodon server run by the Newsmast Foundation, a fediverse-focused charity based in the UK, and it sounds like a neat way to create an ultra-curated social feed. The service is currently available in an invite-only beta, but you can sign up for the waitlist to receive updates. You can check out some examples of channels from Channel.org’s website.
One of the other notable services highlighted today was Bounce, an app that allows you to move your Bluesky account to Mastodon, all without losing any of your followers. The app is built by A New Social, the creators of the Bridgy Fed tool that Bounce uses to connect your Bluesky account to Mastodon. Once your account is bridged, Bounce can then transfer personal data servers using the “move” capability offered by ActivityPub and the AT Protocol, letting you retain your Bluesky followers — and the people you follow — when heading to Mastodon.
