As Substack’s newsletter platform faces criticism for its centralized structure, Ghost is exploring the possibility of joining the fediverse – the interconnected network of servers that includes popular apps like Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Flipboard, and recently, Instagram Threads. In a recent post, Ghost founder John O’Nolan stated that the company, which operates as a nonprofit, is considering federating Ghost over ActivityPub – the social networking protocol that powers the fediverse.
O’Nolan acknowledged that the most requested feature for Ghost in recent years has been the ability to federate its software. He posed the question to users on Threads, where his post was syndicated to Mastodon through Threads’ integration with ActivityPub.
The survey conducted by Ghost asks users about their usage of ActivityPub platforms such as Mastodon and Threads, and how they expect ActivityPub functionality to work within Ghost. It also looks into the potential benefits of federation for Ghost users. The survey also gives respondents the option to provide an email address for further input in the future.
Although there is no guarantee that Ghost will federate, the launch of the survey is a sign of the larger changes taking place on the internet.
In light of Twitter’s acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk, users have become increasingly wary of centralized platforms. Twitter has undergone significant changes under new ownership, with Musk aiming to transform it into an “everything” app for transactions, creator content, video, shopping, and more. Musk also takes a more hands-off approach when it comes to content moderation.
For those who are dissatisfied with the changes on Twitter, the idea of having a portable social networking identity has become more appealing. In other words, if you disagree with the way your Mastodon server or other federated service is run, you have the option to move your profile to a different platform, along with your followers.
With Ghost, the idea would be to federate the accounts of its writers – allowing their posts to exist on the web and reach their newsletter subscribers, while also being accessible on the fediverse. This would allow others to read, like, and reply to the posts from their preferred app. These replies could potentially also be syndicated back to Ghost, where they would appear as comments.
If Ghost were to adopt this approach, it would be similar to how WordPress federated with ActivityPub after acquiring an ActivityPub blog plug-in. This allows people on apps like Mastodon to follow WordPress blogs and receive replies as comments on their own sites.
After reading O’Nolan’s post, Mastodon CTO Renaud Chaput reached out to assist with the ActivityPub integration, an offer which O’Nolan accepted.
Ghost has gained attention as an alternative to Substack in recent months, as people have sought out platforms with different moderation policies. Substack has come under fire for promoting free speech, which has led to the platform being used by pro-Nazi publications, as reported by The Atlantic at the end of last year.
In response, high-profile Substack writer Casey Newton – formerly of The Verge – switched to Ghost.
“I’m not aware of any major U.S. consumer internet platform that does not explicitly ban praise for Nazi hate speech, much less one that welcomes them to set up shop and start selling subscriptions,” Newton wrote in a post explaining his decision.
Aside from Newton, there are other notable users on Ghost, including 404Media, Buffer, Kickstarter, David Sirota’s The Lever, and Tangle.
Today, Ghost boasts over 3 million installations, making it a significant addition to the broader fediverse, which has approximately 13+ million users, with 1.5 million active monthly. (These numbers do not include Threads’ 130+ million active monthly users, as it is not yet fully integrated with ActivityPub.)
