SNS, social media terminologies explained

Have you come across terms like “Social Web”, “Mycelial Web”, “Fediverse”, “Threadiverse”, “Mycelium network”, “Nostr”, “ATproto”, “ActivityPub”, and “DDFON”? They can sound quite techie and confusing. Today, let’s demystify them!

(in alphabetical order)

ActivityPub (AP): The protocol behind the fediverse mycelium network, recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) since 2018–01–13
ATmosphere: A friendly name for the whole mycelium network built on top of ATproto. ¹ ²
ATproto: The protocol that powers the ATmosphere mycelium network, often incorrectly referred to as Bluesky.
Blockchain: A cryptographic ledger, popularized by cryptocurrencies, and also used in DDFON SNS like Audius (music), Hive (content), and Verasity (video).
Bluesky: The first public server powered by the ATproto protocol, commonly but inaccurately used to refer to the entire ATproto mycelium network. Bluesky is only one of many ATproto servers. (also see ATmosphere)
DDFON: Stands for “Decentralized, Distributed, Federated, Open Network” ﹘ a term I coined in 2011, ³⁴ also known as mycelial web.
diaspora*: The name of the protocol that powers The Federation mycelium network.
Fediverse: The friendly name for the mycelium network using the ActivityPub protocol and its predecessors (OStatus (2010–2020), OpenMicroBlogging (2008–2010)). Coined by Mark Eckenwiler in 2012-05-25 and by Marjolein Katsma in 2013-01-24. ⁵⁶⁷
Identiverse: The original name for the fediverse mycelium network, coined by Luke Slater in 2010-03-14. ⁸⁹
Jabber: A federated instant messaging mycelium network, the first DDFON. The name was dropped in favour of the term XMPP.
Mastodon®: A fediverse software using the ActivityPub protocol, incorrectly used to refer to the entire fediverse mycelium network. It is a registered trademark that should only be used within the context of the Mastodon® software.
Matrix: An IRC-like federated messaging platform similar to XMPP, serving as both the protocol and the mycelium network name.
Mycelium [Network]: A network of fungal threads in nature, applied to tech networks like the fediverse, ATmosphere, and Nostr mycelium networks. Originally suggested to replace the term fediverse but redefined in 2022.
Mycelial Web: Multiple networks of fungal threads (mycelium) is called mycelia or mycelial. In tech, mycelial is the umbrella term for mycelium networks like XMPP, fediverse, Matrix, Nostr, and ATmosphere; a friendly name for DDFON.
Nostr: It is a protocol that powers the NOSTRich mycelium network.; The name stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays.
NOSTRich: The friendly name of the mycelium network powered by the Nostr protocol.
OpenMicroBlogging: The first protocol of the fediverse from 2008–2010.
OStatus: The fediverse protocol, active from 2010–2020. ¹⁰
Secure Scuttlebutt (SSB): A cryptographic mycelium network where content is shared only with followers.
Semantic Web: One of the original meanings of Web3.0, where the web becomes capable of analyzing all the data on the Web—the content, links, and transactions between people and computers through W3C standards.
SNS (Social Networking Service): The original term for social media, still commonly used in Korea and the Asia-Pacific region.
Social Media: The term for SNS in English-speaking countries.
Social Web: Also known as Web3 or Web3.0, it promotes an open, interoperable web instead of closed silos. It is about building platforms that interoperate through federation and bridges, while ensuring resiliency through distribution and decentralization. ¹¹¹²¹³¹⁴ It is the same as “Open Social Web” and “Open Social”, and is a very broad term that goes beyond DDFON / Mycelial Web. ¹⁵ ¹⁶ ¹⁷ ¹⁸
The Federation: The name of the network running on the diaspora* protocol.
Threadiverse: Refers to threaded fediverse platforms like Lemmy, Kbin, and Mbin.; In Korea, it refers specifically to Meta’s Threads platform with fediverse integration. ¹⁹
Web3.0: Refers to Semantic Web as coined by Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee in 2006. ²⁰; Also refers to the social web “Le Web3” conference in France in 2007 and earlier. ¹²¹³¹⁴; Unfortunately also used to refer to blockchain technology ²¹ as defined by Gavin Wood in 2014. ²²
Web3: Initially coined for the social web conference in 2007 by Loic Le Meur. ¹²¹³¹⁴; It is also unfortunately being used for blockchain technology ²¹ as defined by Gavin Wood in 2014. ²²
XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol): The first federated instant messaging platform, originally named Jabber.