42 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
42 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
# What is GNU social
|
|
|
|
GNU social is a social network platform for communities. It enables you to publish
|
|
short notes including URLs and pictures. If you're interested in what someone has
|
|
to say you can subscribe them. When you log in to your account you see a timeline
|
|
containing all the notes from people, groups and tags you subscribed.
|
|
You can have a conversation with another person by replying to each other's notes.
|
|
|
|
You may have seen this sort of thing before. GNU social is special for three main
|
|
reasons:
|
|
|
|
* **Accessible**: It follows [A11Y](https://www.a11yproject.com/),
|
|
[AnyBrowser](https://anybrowser.org/campaign/), and provides a complete [i18n interface
|
|
for easy l10n](https://blog.mozilla.org/l10n/2011/12/14/i18n-vs-l10n-whats-the-diff/).
|
|
* **Customizable**: Every community running GNU social has the power to provide a
|
|
unique experience to its members.
|
|
* **Privacy focused**: GNU social is part of the GNU project, it's 100% free software,
|
|
with no malicious features or spyware.
|
|
|
|
# The Free Network
|
|
|
|
GNU social allows you to connect to a decentralised network named The Free Network,
|
|
part of the IndieWeb. Being decentralised means that there is no single server that
|
|
controls The Free Network. Instead, many servers are run by different people around
|
|
the world. These servers communicate with each other to form a federation. You can
|
|
create an account on any one of them. Although the servers sometimes look different,
|
|
ultimately it doesn't matter which one you choose - you're still part of the same
|
|
network as everyone else.
|
|
|
|
If one server suffers an outage it's inconvenient for the people who have an
|
|
account on that particular server. The rest of the network continues to operate as
|
|
normal. This makes the fediverse highly resilient. Censorship is difficult as servers
|
|
can be located anywhere in the world.
|
|
|
|
Because GNU social is free software it's here to stay. A corporate social network
|
|
might disappear or start running advertisements when the venture capital runs out.
|
|
The GNU social code is available to everybody and there are many servers where it's
|
|
free to create an account (the support tends to be done by means of donations).
|
|
|
|
This is a social network that does what's best for the people who use it - not what
|
|
makes the most money.
|