Social Reader

The Social Reader is a P2P and offline ActivityPub client for reading and following microblogs on the Fediverse (opens in a new tab). It stands out by not indexing data on a server but instead empowering users to load public ActivityPub data directly onto their devices, turning each device into a personal indexer. This approach ensures that you control your content fully.

Key Features

• Direct Content Loading: Load public ActivityPub data directly without server indexing.
• P2P Support: Natively supports content loading over P2P protocols like ipfs:// (opens in a new tab) and hyper:// (opens in a new tab), allowing access anytime, anywhere—even offline.
• Low-Tech Philosophy: Built with minimal dependencies using vanilla JavaScript, unminified scripts, and local storage via IndexedDB.

Why Social Reader?

Social Reader removes the middleman from digital interactions, facilitating direct communication with audiences without third-party interference or algorithms. This ad-free experience prioritizes user autonomy, making Social Reader ideal for community leaders and organizations who value genuine engagement.

FAQs

How do I create an account on Social Reader?

• Social Reader is designed as a reading and following client, which means you cannot create an account directly within the app. To actively write and contribute to the Fediverse, you would need to interact with the Social Inbox (opens in a new tab) API. This can be done through platforms like Sutty CMS (opens in a new tab) or by forking and hosting your own instance of Staticpub (opens in a new tab) repository. If you're a community or organization that would like to combine the two for your use case, send us an email.

Why is Social Reader different from mainstream social platforms?

• Social Reader ensures direct communication with your audience, free from ads and third-party algorithms. This setup not only fosters genuine interaction but also allows organizations and community leaders to engage their followers without the need to pay for reach, a common requirement on traditional social networks. It is also an area for us to experiment with new ways of loading content from the distributed web without needing to depend on a particular Fediverse server implementation.

View and contribute to our open-source code on GitHub (opens in a new tab).