Newsletter platform Ghost is the latest service to promise support for ActivityPub, the open-source protocol that powers fediverse. Company Monday will add support for ActivityPub later this year, in a move that could bring tens of millions of people to fediverse.
Fediverse is a growing collection of services including Mastodon, Flipboard, and Threads that support the ActivityPub protocol. is part of a growing movement for services based on open protocols rather than closed networks. Proponents often compare it to email, which allows people to communicate regardless of their preferred application or platform.
In a blog post outlining its vision, Ghost said it joined fediverse to “reclaim” the open internet. “Now, Ghost publishers will be able to follow, like, and interact with each other just like you would on a normal social network — but on your own website,” the company said. “The difference, of course, is that you’ll be able to follow, like, and interact with users on Mastodon, Threads, Flipboard, Buttondown, WriteFreely, Tumblr, WordPress, PeerTube, Pixelfed… or any other platform. Also adopted ActivityPub.”
While Ghost says the ActivityPub integration will be optional for publishers, the company notes that its inclusion in fediverse could bring “tens of millions” of new people into the space. A number of popular newsletters on Ghost, including Platformer, Garbage day, He is the Beastas an independent technology news site 404 Media.
