The FediForum 2025 conference introduced three innovative applications: Bonfire Social, Channel.org, and Bounce. These platforms create new opportunities for decentralized social networks and simplify transitions between different platforms.
G. Ostrov
The annual virtual FediForum conference traditionally showcases the latest achievements in open social networks. This year's event was no exception, presenting developers and users with three promising applications that could transform the landscape of decentralized social platforms.
Bonfire Social: Digital Community Constructor
Bonfire Social positions itself as a universal platform for creating digital communities with individualized governance rules and unique design. The developers presented version 1.0 as the platform's first "flavor".
Key features of Bonfire Social include a pre-configured bundle of extensions with functions such as personalized feeds, user profiles, threaded discussions, the ability to share posts, and follow other participants.
The development team is already working on alternative versions of the platform. Bonfire Community will be oriented toward private groups and organizations, while Open Science is being created specifically for academic communities and scientific collaboration.
Bonfire Social is compatible with popular decentralized platforms, including Mastodon, Peertube, and Mobilizon. Users can install the application now or test the demo version.
Channel.org: Personal Content Curator
Channel.org represents an innovative solution for content curation in the open social web. The service allows users to create thematic channels by tracking specific hashtags and accounts, including bridge connections with Bluesky and RSS feeds.
The platform's unique feature is the ability to subscribe to channels created by other users, which are distributed through Fediverse, Bluesky, and RSS. Built-in filters help block unwanted content, including adult materials and hate speech.
Channel.org is built on a modified Mastodon server managed by the Newsmast Foundation, a UK-based charity organization. Currently, the service is available by invitation only, but you can sign up for the waiting list to receive updates.
Bounce: Bridge Between Bluesky and Mastodon
The Bounce application solves one of the main problems of decentralized social networks - the complexity of migration between platforms. The tool allows you to transfer an account from Bluesky to Mastodon while preserving all followers and following relationships.
Developers from A New Social use Bridgy Fed technology to connect Bluesky accounts with Mastodon. After establishing the bridge, Bounce transfers personal data servers using the "move" function of ActivityPub and AT Protocol.
This solution is particularly relevant for users who want to change platforms but are not ready to lose their audience and social connections.
Future of Open Social Networks
Applications presented at FediForum demonstrate the growing maturity of the decentralized social network ecosystem. While last year's main news was Threads joining the fediverse, this year the focus shifts to creating more convenient and functional tools for users.
These developments show that open social networks are evolving not only technically but also in terms of user experience, approaching the convenience of centralized platforms while maintaining the advantages of decentralization.
Detailed information about new applications and their capabilities can be found on developers' official websites and in materials from the FediForum conference.
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