Hi everyone in the #Forkiverse! I am happy to be here.

I found out about this space, while listening to the podcast, out on a walk around the icy waters of Copenhagen! #introduction

As a researcher of alternative social media platforms, I couldn’t resist joining the #forkiverse.

If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your story. What brought you here? What keeps you here?

"The #Forkiverse makes all of this visible...unfolding in real time. We are watching a community take shape, with excitement, disagreement, and inevitable growing pains. Whether or not it fixes the internet is almost beside the point...in the Fediverse, community is not abstract. Community matters more than algorithms....It is intentional, contextual, and deeply shaped by where you choose to belong. And there is space, even if you have too many faces." https://maho.dev/2026/01/the-forkiverse-experiment-and-why-instance-choice-matters/

"The #Forkiverse makes all of this visible...unfolding in real time. We are watching a community take shape, with excitement, disagreement, and inevitable growing pains. Whether or not it fixes the internet is almost beside the point...in the Fediverse, community is not abstract. Community matters more than algorithms....It is intentional, contextual, and deeply shaped by where you choose to belong. And there is space, even if you have too many faces." https://maho.dev/2026/01/the-forkiverse-experiment-and-why-instance-choice-matters/

The #Forkiverse as a model: ie converting podcast audiences to an instance makes a lot of sense.

It helps people pick a smaller instance (which still stops people joining the #fediverse) and it immediately has reach beyond the community (unlike say a discord server)

If this was to become the norm though it would need to be very very easy to do and I imagine the cost of this will rack up pretty quickly.

The #Forkiverse as a model: ie converting podcast audiences to an instance makes a lot of sense.

It helps people pick a smaller instance (which still stops people joining the #fediverse) and it immediately has reach beyond the community (unlike say a discord server)

If this was to become the norm though it would need to be very very easy to do and I imagine the cost of this will rack up pretty quickly.

For anyone else who's been confused about the influx of new users and posts mentioning #Forkiverse the last couple of days, here's what I've learned so far:

1. It's a Mastodon instance set up by the hosts of the podcasts Search Engine and Hard Fork last year, and announced in the Jan 9 episode “The Fediverse Experiment” (linked below).
2. It's not actually a fork! 😄 The instance runs on vanilla Mastodon; its name just seems to be a reference to the Hard Fork podcast.
3. The vibes feel similar to beige.party, except this one's definitely a cult.

Link to the podcast episode: https://www.searchengine.show/the-fediverse-experiment
(I haven't actually listened to this myself, so I make no guarantees regarding the accuracy of any of the above claims 😇)

For anyone else who's been confused about the influx of new users and posts mentioning #Forkiverse the last couple of days, here's what I've learned so far:

1. It's a Mastodon instance set up by the hosts of the podcasts Search Engine and Hard Fork last year, and announced in the Jan 9 episode “The Fediverse Experiment” (linked below).
2. It's not actually a fork! 😄 The instance runs on vanilla Mastodon; its name just seems to be a reference to the Hard Fork podcast.
3. The vibes feel similar to beige.party, except this one's definitely a cult.

Link to the podcast episode: https://www.searchengine.show/the-fediverse-experiment
(I haven't actually listened to this myself, so I make no guarantees regarding the accuracy of any of the above claims 😇)

The #Forkiverse as a model: ie converting podcast audiences to an instance makes a lot of sense.

It helps people pick a smaller instance (which still stops people joining the #fediverse) and it immediately has reach beyond the community (unlike say a discord server)

If this was to become the norm though it would need to be very very easy to do and I imagine the cost of this will rack up pretty quickly.

For anyone else who's been confused about the influx of new users and posts mentioning #Forkiverse the last couple of days, here's what I've learned so far:

1. It's a Mastodon instance set up by the hosts of the podcasts Search Engine and Hard Fork last year, and announced in the Jan 9 episode “The Fediverse Experiment” (linked below).
2. It's not actually a fork! 😄 The instance runs on vanilla Mastodon; its name just seems to be a reference to the Hard Fork podcast.
3. The vibes feel similar to beige.party, except this one's definitely a cult.

Link to the podcast episode: https://www.searchengine.show/the-fediverse-experiment
(I haven't actually listened to this myself, so I make no guarantees regarding the accuracy of any of the above claims 😇)

#eli5 the #forkiverse stuff ... Please someone? I'm massively out of the loop on this one. 😂 😂

If you have seen this strange hashtag #forkiverse it’s a bunch of people joining a server run by some big podcasts. It seems to have gotten a lot of activity because they just featured it in a podcast episode. Here’s the link to the episode.

https://overcast.fm/+ABBVQRG2SL0

As a researcher of alternative social media platforms, I couldn’t resist joining the #forkiverse.

If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your story. What brought you here? What keeps you here?

If you have seen this strange hashtag #forkiverse it’s a bunch of people joining a server run by some big podcasts. It seems to have gotten a lot of activity because they just featured it in a podcast episode. Here’s the link to the episode.

https://overcast.fm/+ABBVQRG2SL0

I'm not super sure what's up with that Search Engine podcast or that #forkiverse tag, but I, for one, welcome the new denizens of the fediverse. Hello hello 👋

Hot tips:
- fill in your profiles with at least *some*content (doesn't have to be complex or a lot!) That tells other users you're not a bot.
- post an #introduction, as many of you have been doing 🤘
- follow hashtags and users that look interesting to you! There is no algorithm. The algorithm is you - and boosting!

Welcome, everyone joining the #forkiverse!

The #fediverse is like any social media in that the "algorithm" gets better the more you "train" it. And by "algorithm" I mean cool people & hashtags you can follow (yes, you can follow hashtags, it's awesome!), and by "train" it I mean boost any post you enjoy.

The more you boost and others boost, the more good stuff bubbles to the top and even goes viral. (Yes, stuff on Mastodon etc. can go viral! It's possible!)

Most importantly: HAVE FUN!! 😊🎉

Hi! Come be weird with me. 🥰

Welcome to the #fediverse

#forkiverse

Welcome, everyone joining the #forkiverse!

The #fediverse is like any social media in that the "algorithm" gets better the more you "train" it. And by "algorithm" I mean cool people & hashtags you can follow (yes, you can follow hashtags, it's awesome!), and by "train" it I mean boost any post you enjoy.

The more you boost and others boost, the more good stuff bubbles to the top and even goes viral. (Yes, stuff on Mastodon etc. can go viral! It's possible!)

Most importantly: HAVE FUN!! 😊🎉

I'm not super sure what's up with that Search Engine podcast or that #forkiverse tag, but I, for one, welcome the new denizens of the fediverse. Hello hello 👋

Hot tips:
- fill in your profiles with at least *some*content (doesn't have to be complex or a lot!) That tells other users you're not a bot.
- post an #introduction, as many of you have been doing 🤘
- follow hashtags and users that look interesting to you! There is no algorithm. The algorithm is you - and boosting!

So of course I just made a Surf feed of top #Forkiverse users #surffeeds cc: @surf @Casey @pj - https://surf.social/feed/surf%2Fcustom%2F01kejhv1q73y14b7k9r8rmjxec