Recently, I was sitting with my sister-in-law talking about social media. She has that nagging, familiar concern about corporate social, the feeling that we’re all just products in someone else’s machine. I pulled out my phone, showed her my toot.wales feed, and started explaining how she could “save the Web site to her home screen”.
She listened politely, then said the thing I believe most people genuinely feel:
“It’s lovely! If only there was an app…”
She does not want a “protocol”. She does not want to hear about “the Fediverse”. She just wants that feed on her phone without a homework assignment. And she wants it from the app store she trusts.
When I started toot.wales, I instinctively knew this. In the early days, I even paid a developer to fork a couple of open-source apps and hard-code them to our community. It was expensive and eventually I simply couldn’t sustain it, but I never lost sight of that goal.
Now, working with our brilliant friends at the Newsmast Foundation, we’ve delivered it: a simple, opinionated, “people-first” social app.
One community. One door.
The biggest design decision we made was the simplest: the app is hard-locked to toot.wales.
There is no “pick a server” screen or “find your instance”. There is no friction. This is not a Mastodon app; it’s the Tŵt app, purpose-built for our community.
I’ve spent years building tools like StartHereSocial to help people navigate the maze of the Fediverse. But for toot.wales, I realised the answer isn’t a better map, it should be an inviting, open front door. If you want to join, you should be able to step right in.
Croeso: A warmer welcome
Alongside the app I built a promotional Web site at croeso.toot.wales. Croeso is Welsh for “welcome”, and that is exactly what it provides. It strips away the jargon, no talk of federation or decentralisation. Instead, it offers clear language about why this is “Better Social”.
It’s joyful and non-threatening on purpose. We’re not here to preach at you to quit X or Facebook, and we’re not shaming anyone. We are simply inviting you to try something different. If you like the vibe, stay. If not, no worries. People stay because it feels good, not because they’ve been coaxed into a boycott.
A Fediverse of communities
Some people see the Fediverse as one giant global town square. I see it differently. For me, it’s a community of communities. There are a million fediverses.
When people looking to onboard new people tell me “mastodon.social is too big”, my gut feeling is no, your server is too small. Communities only grow when we intentionally nurture them. It’s not up to a company in Germany to grow Tŵt in Wales. That’s on us, it’s our problem.
I want everyone in Wales (and the world!) to have a social option that is not drowned in surveillance and ad-tech. To get there, we have to design for clarity rather than complexity.
What’s inside the Tŵt app?
We’ve made some very deliberate choices to keep the app “human-shaped”:
- Private Mentions have their own space. You can’t create a private mention in the main composer and you will never see them in your timeline. We’ve put them in a dedicated “Conversations” tab to reduce mistakes and keep privacy intentional.
- Three simple tabs. You get Home (your personal feed), Tŵt (the “local” feed plus local replies), and Explore (your lists and hashtags, plus curated feeds for news, sport, culture and more). This creates a natural flow from your own interests to the wider, global community.
- Search is just search. There are no “trending” nudges or unsolicited content. If you’re looking for something, we help you find it. We don’t try to distract you along the way. (Trending is it’s own Channel.)
- True Bilingualism. English and Cymraeg sit side-by-side as equal choices. Digital spaces should reinforce our identity, not flatten it.
Celebrating the pioneers
The Tŵt ecosystem is already thriving because Welsh media organisations took a leap of faith into the open Web. Groups such as Nation.Cymru, Golwg360, Swansea Bay News, and Wrexham.com didn’t wait to see which way the wind was blowing. They dove in and started building, and are long-time Social Web citizens. Golwg and Swansea Bay now each federate their own platforms!
Whether it’s weather updates from North Wales Storms or local sports teams, these partners make the app feel alive from the moment you log in. The app offers two pathways to consume this content, via Channels you can drop in and out of, or Starter Packs you can follow to bring them into your feed.
Why this matters
For those already comfortable with the Fediverse, using a Web interface or the app of their choice is fine. But for everyone else, “just install the Web site” is not meaningful advice.
People want “the app”. From the trusted app store. They want to tap an icon and feel at home, not slog through an IT exam.
If you run a community and you like our approach, please feel free to use it. Whether it’s the onboarding flow, the “Better Social” messaging, or the focus on language equity, you are welcome to use my work as a template. If we want a healthier internet, we need more communities feeling empowered to build their own front doors.
The Tŵt app is our doorway. It is built for Wales and the Welsh, at home and abroad. It’s simple, it’s ours, and I can’t wait for you to try it. We plan on launching on Dydd Gŵyl Dewi with a special Fediverse Tootup the day before, in the meantime you can get a preview of the app at https://croeso.toot.wales/en/less-clutter-more-cwtch/
Comments
272 responses to “There Is One Fediverse. There Are A Thousand Ways To Join It.”
@blog "Private Mentions have their own space. You cannot create a private mention in the main composer and you will not see them in your timeline. We have put them in a dedicated “Conversations” tab to reduce mistakes and keep privacy intentional."
THANK YOU
@evan @blog Glad you like!
@blog One door is the key phrase. A lot of people see Twitter, Insta, etc as not a platform, not a protocol, but n app. I've long craved a dedicated app for our instance. unfortunately we don't have a budget for development.
@mike @blog stay tuned, my goal is to support a white label option so everyone can have one, no dev required. This project is to some degree a proving ground to see if my instincts are right and a dedicated app actually meets the brief. My personal belief is every instance that wants one should have it's own app.
@jaz @mike @blog That's exactly what I thought when I read the start of this thread. Maybe there's space in the @ivory business model for white labelled versions
@erik @jaz @mike @blog Watch this space! @newsmast is rolling out white-label apps. As Jaz says, this and other pilots are test cases.
@michael I saw the nice-looking screengrabs of something similar for the Bristol Cable; I downloaded yesterday but couldn't explore as not a member.
Is that using the same back-end as twt.wales? And part of a wider @newsmast product strategy? Be *amazing* if a white-label fediverse phone app is coming that's FOSS for transparency/resilience, but has a funding model baked in (ie pay you for slick custom dev) and builds up slowly together with folks like Toot & the Cable.
@erik @jaz @mike @blog
@nicol @newsmast @erik @jaz @mike @blog Hi Nicol yes exactly it’s a white-label mobile app – and we have a few more pilots to launch in the coming weeks and months. It’s all on the same codebase so we can put the time into community-led design as Jaz describes.
@nicol @newsmast @erik @jaz @mike @blog We’ll have more for you to explore soon!
@michael @nicol @newsmast @jaz @mike @blog I'm thinking that having a custom app for an instance also provides a low-friction funding avenue for the instance…
Amazing @michael – can't wait to see.
And I agree @erik – it's win-win.
Also really like how it fits with community news publishers like the Cable who aren't currently very Fediverse active afaik but potentially bring in their chattiest subscribers with their first ActivityPub account *and* can help them share their articles far-wider. Would love to see it for my local walthamforestecho.co.uk (published by David Floyd @ socialspidercommunitynews.co.uk).
@newsmast @jaz @mike @blog
@erik @jaz @blog @ivory The only problem with that is Ivory is an IOS only app. Ideally we'd like to hav ean app for both Android and IOS , especially since i use Android LOL.
@mike @jaz @blog @ivory Doh! Of course. I'm just so happy with Ivory I can't imagine it not being everywhere.
@jaz @mike @blog That's exactly what I thought when I read the start of this thread. Maybe there's space in the @ivory business model for white labelled versions
That would be a fantastic service to the Fediverse community.
@blog what a great Idea. 👍
@blog very interesting!
@blog If only other UK regions, like Hull, would do something similar, then I could get rid of FB as the only reason I really keep that around is keeping up with family and some friends who don't use the fediverse lol
@alexchapman @blog no Hull, but https://croeso.toot.wales/en/server-directory/ …
@jaz @blog That's cool, would love to see Hull be a part of this list one day.
@alexchapman @blog Hi Alex @newsmast is working on low-cost apps for local communities. Drop us a message and let’s see what we can do in Hull.
@michael @blog OK thanks
This is the direction the Fediverse needs to go.
Not about instances and federation jank, but apps and websites that talk to each other and you don’t have to think twice about it.
@julian hmm, kind of like how you, on a NodeBB forum, saw a post on Mastodon, and our collective conversation is magically appearing at the bottom of a WordPress blogpost.
Translated:
Everyone can see everyone's comments, even if they're on a different web site.
@blog Exciting project..! You really put some thought into reducing friction for the less technical crowd.
You had already found a bit of a community before this got started?
We’ve been running toot.wales since 2018 so we have a healthy community up and running – although the app is intended for people who aren’t yet members, might want to try it out, but need a super simple way in.
@blog
You’ve hit on something there. Every open instance needs that really, but I’m glad Tŵt got there first.
@blog oh man, so well done and well said. Big applause.
I see this as well
> She does not want a “protocol”. She does not want to hear about “the Fediverse”. She just wants that feed on her phone
Just when I read it, I thought: (non tech) people want content, not technology. Content first, technology (if at all) later.
You can have a brilliant technology, if I don't see the content, I'm not interested.
@hikingdude @blog At the same time, we already have that as Twitter/FB/Instagram/Bluesky/…
IOW, there’s a social&political reason for the friction.
@blog The link shows a bunch of code (like a page source) not an actual page.
This is a known issue with WordPress and its ActivityPub plugin, I’ll see if I can fix it from my side.
@blog YES! This is the way. I think most people are not interested in learning about the software that powers your server (Mastodon). They just want to join your (federated) community.
@blog I dreamed 20 years ago about a localized online community. This is imo a great entry to the whole fediverse. Coincidentally, this week I received my beta access to @surf . A similar idea to create an app-centered and (self-)curated path into the #fediverse.
@jannik @blog @surf I love Surf! Let me know how you like the beta, it's a powerful app and concept IMO
[…] There Is One Fediverse. There Are A Thousand Ways To Join It. […]
@blog @support @team als je dit leest heeft de aanpak van mastodon.nl wel veel jargon. Zouden we met deze aanpak een breder publiek kunnen aantrekken?