Ghost, an open-source platform, will officially join the fediverse this year. The fediverse is an interconnected network of servers that includes popular apps like Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, and more. Recently, Instagram Threads also joined this network. Last week, Ghost teased its integration into the fediverse by surveying users about their expectations.
Founder John O’Nolan shared on Threads that Ghost plans to leverage federation in its software, seeking user input on how they envision the platform working in this new environment.
Users expressed hopes that Ghost’s blog and newsletter authors would have fediverse accounts, with their posts federated to the network. This means users can follow Ghost authors from their preferred apps, like and reply to their posts from the fediverse, and have these replies posted back as blog comments on the author’s site. Ghost anticipates adding millions of users to the fediverse once the integration is complete.
This move is reminiscent of how WordPress integrated with ActivityPub, empowering WordPress blogs to be followed on fediverse apps like Mastodon, with replies appearing as comments on the original site.
Ghost’s announcement sparked interest in the community, prompting Mastodon CTO Renaud Chaput to offer assistance with the ActivityPub integration.
Officially confirming its plans, Ghost detailed how its federation service will function, allowing publishers to interact within the fediverse, follow other users, and subscribe to various services like Mastodon, Threads, Flipboard, and more. A built-in ActivityPub feed will enable users to follow people and topics of interest from around the web.
Ghost emphasized the benefits of ActivityPub integration, giving platforms more control over content presentation while remaining compatible with other services. Users will have multiple subscription options including email, RSS, and ActivityPub. Paid subscriptions can be managed through ActivityPub as well.
Ghost noted that authors will retain full control of their subscribers, allowing content distribution directly from their websites. Notable authors like Casey Newton have already made the switch to Ghost from Substack due to concerns about content moderation.
