Research - Fedivariety

Our research
Illuminating both the challenges and benefits of decentralized social media solutions
The FediVariety "EU Voice/Video" research project
This study, funded by the NLnet Foundation, investigates the potential integration of the Fediverse into public administration, offering valuable insights for public entities considering its adoption. By analyzing the European Data Protection Supervisor's (EDPS) experiences with the "EU Voice/Video" pilot project, we aim to illuminate both the challenges and benefits of decentralized social media solutions.
Publication is foreseen early 2026. Some of our exploits towards that goal are to be found in the blog. ;)
We’re excited to announce NOAW, an unconference focused on integrating the Fediverse into public administration, in collaboration with Chief Information Office (CIO-Rijk) of the Netherlands, and the Digitalisation & Innovation Department of the City of Amsterdam.
Learn more about the NOAW unconference

About the European Data Protection Supervisor's (EDPS) pilot project "EU Voice/Video"
The EDPS pilot project "EU Voice/Video" was one of the first projects to integrate self-hosted Fediverse instances into interinstitutional (EU) public administration. The two platforms EU Voice and EU Video are a privacy-oriented environment based on Mastodon and PeerTube software.
EU Voice is the official ActivityPub microblogging platform of the EU institutions, bodies and agencies (EUIs). Together with EU Video, it is part of an alternative social media pilot program proposed, and provided by EDPS.
The EU Voice/Video pilot project, initially planned to last one year, was extended by another year due to its success with EUIs and their users. At the end of the pilot project, EU Voice had 40 institutional accounts, including EU Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament, and EU Video had 6 accounts, making EUIs the largest group of public authorities on the Fediverse worldwide.
This pilot project demonstrates that community-driven, decentralised social media can prioritise users' privacy and personal data while strengthening the EU's digital sovereignty.
EU Voice and EU Video is officially closed on 18 May 2024.

aim OF the FediVariety research project "EU Voice/Video Case Study"
For our research, we examined all relevant data on how the 40 institutional EU Voice (using the Mastodon network) and 6 EU Video (using the PeerTube network) accounts, were created, how they were used, and to what extent they were experienced.
To this end, we requested the relevant documents (reports, correspondence, presentations, manuals, evaluation reports, etc.) from all institutions involved through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and we conducted 10 interviews with people who were directly or indirectly engaged in the pilot project.
The study uses a qualitative method that combines the research styles of "Grounded Theory" (GT) (Charmaz, 2006; Strauss and Corbin, 1990) for the interview data with the method proposed by Prior (2003) for document analysis of the text documents, called "Using Documents in Social Research".
Through a thorough analysis of the generated data, we aim to highlight both the challenges and advantages of decentralized social media solutions. Our report, set for publication in early 2026, will serve as a catalyst for discussions at the NOAW unconference.
Learn more about the NOAW unconference

Our research

Illuminating both the challenges and benefits of decentralized social media solutions

The FediVariety "EU Voice/Video" research project

Publication is foreseen early 2026. Some of our exploits towards that goal are to be found in the blog. ;)

We’re excited to announce NOAW, an unconference focused on integrating the Fediverse into public administration, in collaboration with Chief Information Office (CIO-Rijk) of the Netherlands, and the Digitalisation & Innovation Department of the City of Amsterdam.

About the European Data Protection Supervisor's (EDPS) pilot project "EU Voice/Video"

The EDPS pilot project "EU Voice/Video" was one of the first projects to integrate self-hosted Fediverse instances into interinstitutional (EU) public administration. The two platforms EU Voice and EU Video are a privacy-oriented environment based on Mastodon and PeerTube software.

EU Voice is the official ActivityPub microblogging platform of the EU institutions, bodies and agencies (EUIs). Together with EU Video, it is part of an alternative social media pilot program proposed, and provided by EDPS.

This pilot project demonstrates that community-driven, decentralised social media can prioritise users' privacy and personal data while strengthening the EU's digital sovereignty.

EU Voice and EU Video is officially closed on 18 May 2024.

aim OF the FediVariety research project "EU Voice/Video Case Study"

For our research, we examined all relevant data on how the 40 institutional EU Voice (using the Mastodon network) and 6 EU Video (using the PeerTube network) accounts, were created, how they were used, and to what extent they were experienced.

The study uses a qualitative method that combines the research styles of "Grounded Theory" (GT) (Charmaz, 2006; Strauss and Corbin, 1990) for the interview data with the method proposed by Prior (2003) for document analysis of the text documents, called "Using Documents in Social Research".

Through a thorough analysis of the generated data, we aim to highlight both the challenges and advantages of decentralized social media solutions. Our report, set for publication in early 2026, will serve as a catalyst for discussions at the NOAW unconference.