Ghost, a Substack competitor, announces plans to join the fediverse in 2024

Ghost, the open-source platform known for its newsletter services, has announced its plans to officially join the fediverse this year. The fediverse is an open social network of interconnected servers that includes popular apps like Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, and more recently, Instagram Threads.

Founder John O’Nolan revealed in a post on Threads that Ghost has been exploring ways to leverage federation in its software and recently surveyed users about their preferences. The feedback indicated that users hope to see Ghost’s blog and newsletter authors become fediverse accounts, with their posts federated to the network. This would allow users to follow, like, and reply to Ghost authors from their preferred app within the fediverse.

The integration of Ghost into the fediverse is expected to add tens of millions of users to the network, which is projected to reach 170 to 200 million users by this summer. This move is reminiscent of WordPress’s integration with ActivityPub, allowing WordPress blogs to be followed and interacted with on various apps within the fediverse.

The announcement from Ghost has sparked excitement within the community, with Mastodon CTO Renaud Chaput offering assistance with the ActivityPub integration. Ghost has confirmed its plans to federate its service in 2024, enabling users to interact with each other and follow content from various federated services.

The integration of ActivityPub into Ghost will provide users with more options for subscribing to content, including email subscriptions, RSS, and ActivityPub. This move is seen as a way to give authors more control over their distribution and content while offering readers a seamless experience. With the growing interest in Ghost, fueled by high-profile authors making the switch from other platforms, the platform is poised to make a significant impact in the fediverse.