Here's this week's issue of Relay, a roundup of things happening across the Social Web. Governance changes, questions of decentralization, and some new developments in the field.

Relay, By We Distribute

September 7th: Rising Tides

Here's this week's roundup of things happening across the Social Web. Governance changes, questions of decentralization, and some new developments ...

The first issue of our Social Web newsletter, Relay, is out. Take a look!

Relay, By We Distribute

August 22nd, 2025: Something Brewing

Please be gentle. This is our first time doing this kind of thing. Welcome to our first issue of Relay.

After a brief demo at FediCon 2025, a new, open source fundraising system for the #Fediverse has been released to the public. It's native to the network, and you sign in using your own Fediverse account. https://wedistribute.org/2025/08/introducing-crowdbucks/

We Distribute is currently evaluating whether to launch a crowdfunding campaign to help support our organization. Right now, almost everything we do is created, produced, and edited by one guy, @Sean Tilley. With funding, we would be able to pay regular contributors and hire people to help us produce media on a much more frequent basis. If you're interested, please feel free to fill out this short survey:

Nextcloud

There's a lot of cool stuff in the pipeline for the #Fediverse alternative to Tiktok and Vine, including a Web UI and a boatload of new features. Let's dive in, and see what's coming in the next release. https://wedistribute.org/2025/08/big-updates-are-coming-to-loops/

For our latest episode of The Decentered Podcast, we interviewed @rabble! It's an awesome interview that talks about Twitter, Secure Scuttlebutt, and the evolution of #Nostr. https://wedistribute.org/podcast/s2e3-rabble-from-nos-social/

WordPress is continuing work on their #Fediverse integration, adding new capabilities that lets WordPress users subscribe to people right from the dashboard. Here's why this matters for the future of WordPress on the Social Web. https://wedistribute.org/2025/07/wordpress-activitypub-v-7-1-0-introduces-following-capabilities/

An open source, self-hostable music platform will soon allow people on the #Fediverse to buy music and support artists. Here's why it's a big deal. https://wedistribute.org/2025/06/bandwagon-music-sales/

You can check out our daily live coverage of #FediForum here: https://wedistribute.org/2025/06/fediforum-june-2025/

This is not a drill! 🚨 We have launched our second season of The Decentered Podcast, with some pre-event commentary about the upcoming @fediforum event happening tomorrow. https://wedistribute.org/podcast/fediforum-june-2025/ Give it a listen, #Fediverse!

This is not a drill! 🚨 We have launched our second season of The Decentered Podcast, with some pre-event commentary about the upcoming FediForum event happening tomorrow. https://wedistribute.org/podcast/fediforum-june-2025/ Give it a listen!

We tested out the new #Fediverse beta in Ghost, and wrote about our initial thoughts. There's a huge amount of potential, and it's already taking great shape. https://wedistribute.org/2025/03/ghost-activitypub-beta/

Coinbase and Farcaster are teaming up, and aim to make a popular crypto wallet into a social client. Debut article by @npub1ztp5...htuv! https://wedistribute.org/2025/03/farcaster-coinbase/

The Funkwhale music platform is alive and in active development, and they're working on a feature to filter far-right artists off the network. Some #Fediverse self-hosters are divided on letting a third party decide what should be allowed in their library. https://wedistribute.org/2025/02/funkwhale-filter/

The organization behind critical pieces of Trust & Safety infrastructure in the #Fediverse is struggling to make ends meet. Here's what's going on, what the road ahead looks like, and how to help. https://wedistribute.org/2025/02/iftas-funding-crisis/

Radio Free Fedi was one of the greatest artist projects to ever hit the #Fediverse. With an unprecedented ethos and a fanatical approach to building and supporting the music community, it became an institution. Today, we remember and honor RFF. https://wedistribute.org/2025/02/radio-free-fedi-shuts-down/

FediOnFire, a #Fediverse project similar to Firesky, has shut down after a misunderstanding led to community backlash. https://wedistribute.org/2025/02/fedionfire-shutdown/

We live in interesting times. As users migrate en masse from existing social platforms to new networks and apps, we ought to think about how to make the experience of signing up, connecting to friends, and finding the good stuff as solid as humanly possible. https://wedistribute.org/2025/01/upward-momentum/

With NodeBB's latest release, the forum software introduces ActivityPub support, and can talk to the biggest Reddit alternatives in the #Fediverse. https://wedistribute.org/2025/01/nodebb-officially-joins-fediverse/

Another day, another non-profit. Mastodon is aiming for an organizational shake-up in 2025, with greater emphasis on stewardship and shifting away from a SABDFL development model. https://wedistribute.org/2025/01/mastodon-eu-non-profit/