Last week, open source/decentralized photo sharing platform Pixelfed, officially launched their mobile apps (this will run alongside the usual web based interface which also has a new UI in the works). Sometime last year, I downloaded the source for Pixelfed and began the process of creating my own personal server instance (initially looking to run my own photo album), but eventually stopped when I needed to build all of the missing dependencies (reminded me of the time in the 2000’s when I ran my own Coppermine based photo gallery). I went with a Flickr Pro account instead (one of the few remaining online platforms that still allows creating/categorizing by albums).
At one point (in 2022), Flickr was looking into possibly supporting ActivityPub (to join the Fediverse). The silence since then is the tell that this isn’t a priority (which makes sense given the actual focus of the site and what the majority of its paying users want/need addressed). Tumblr which was really onboard with the idea, has yet to do so as well (I think the support just slow died when people didn’t really bail from Twitter to other platforms). While these “federated” platforms have gained some traction after the US elections + Zuckerberg’s announcement to eliminate moderation and fact checking, the critical mass isn’t there yet (for the average person, just the account setup process can feel daunting because of this decentralized paradigm). Furthermore, Bluesky’s bridging (between ActivityPub and AT protocols) is really a bandaid (it also does not scale well).
I long deactivated my actual Facebook and Instagram accounts; I simply created the one I use now for Instagram. I’m personally not invested into building that account as well. Plus I really do not care for how the quick 1-minute reels have taken over. Over on the Threads side (Meta’s attempt to serve as a substitute for Twitter), it’s much less reels. However, the same aggressive Facebook algorithm is at play, and the site can be really janky via the web browser. Additionally, engagement farming clickbait is rampant (I therefore don’t really use Threads).
Most recently though, there were reports that Meta had been deleting any links to Pixelfed (and the main federated server, Pixelfed.social). Zuckerberg has always been about “which way the wind is blowing”. Let me be more blunt… ass kisser. I personally have had my Flickr account as one of the listed sites on my Instagram profile (I did that from day 1 of the account). The deletion of Pixelfed links would be ironic given Zuck’s recent announcement that Meta was no longer going to fact check and would loosen its content moderation.
I made a test post on Threads and Instagram with the URL to my Pixelfed.social profile to see if the link would get deleted. So far, the link has remained so I presume that last week, it may have been an initial kneejerk reaction (which ended up giving Pixelfed more attention/publicity in the process). The ironic thing again is that since Meta is no longer fact checking, one can also simply not correct the original articles that are accusing the company of deleting links to Pixelfed. In some regards, “fighting fire with fire” is justifiable.
As far as actually migrating to Pixelfed, probably not at this time. The ability to import your data from Instagram is currently disabled on the main server instance for example. Having that would at least allow rebuilding without starting over again. And most servers naturally have very low limits on the file size of photo and videos that can be shared (15mb is the current max on the main server) because there are bandwidth and storage constraints that each server owner has to pay for out of their own pockets unless the users on them donate to help split the costs. At this stage, it’s more about getting my username while it still exists on the main servers.
UPDATE: seems like Meta was mainly removing them on Facebook (their excuse was that it was consider spam which is somewhat rich when taken into the context of Zuckerberg’s announcement a few days earlier about changes to its content moderation).
I also pulled my Kickstarter backing for Pixelfed after I learned about some ongoing drama with the main developer. I weighed the amount of pressure he must be under doing a lot of it alone, but it’s the documented lack of professionalism that makes much of that conduct unacceptable. While the work he has done on this project is great, the one thing I learned a long time ago was to put a self-check on passive/aggressive behavior like that. The KS funding was already reached on day 1; the total amount of that KS isn’t even a huge sum. It’s just hard to back someone with this kind of behavior towards other developers.
