Michael Foster

#COSCUP here we go! Cc

#COSCUP Social Web track kicking off with insightful and stimulating presentations from Roro Park and @jihyeok - plus an impromptu session from

as a bonus!

Dub in the forest at #DWebCamp - with the ultimate sound system from Berlin.

thank you for so many introductions - and to everyone at C-base for bringing their cool stuff to camp 🏕️

Blues Brothers at #DWebCamp ! Thank you

for inviting me - it’s been so much fun! What a vibe - and so many fascinating, change-making people 💚

Here's what's going in my bag (and what's not) as I pack for "Black Holes & Day-Glo Symphonies" at #DWebCamp on Thursday:

🎨 Six cans of Day-Glo paint. Not allowed on the plane 😬 so a fresh order of graffiti paint is shipping to Alte Holle.

📋 Three flipcharts.

📣 A pink Day-Glo megaphone.

👕 Thirty t-shirts with a top secret design.

🔊 A Bose S1 Pro+.

👩‍🎤 A Lily Allen track.

🐬 A TikTok meme.

⚫ And one black hole. Potentially more hazardous than the spray cans?

Cont...

Overnight the

backed Find Out Social added 3,000 users in a few hours, onboarding one user every second at times. All driven by a Mr Global Facebook post. Let’s go!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17TaRGWXVP/?mibextid=wwXIfr

RE: https://mastodon.social/@chrisstoecker/116708702343311570

A great piece! Includes support for the European Social Stack initiative and the call for “shared infrastructure and shared protocols” in Europe. https://european.social/

Here's the call to action

is taking to

:

Make connected community spaces our mission for the year ahead.

Community building is hard. Connected community building is harder. But it's worth it.

For technologists: add this alongside your building. For policy people: let's talk. For marketers and content makers: let's band together. For community builders: we need your help.

Heading to PublicSpaces? Come find us.

https://www.blog-pat.ch/connected-community-spaces/

#Fediverse #PublicSpaces

Thanks so much to

and

for inviting me to present a live webinar yesterday about our work at

We had a full house and lots of engagement!

It was a pleasure watching the lightbulbs going off in people’s heads. We can make change, creating new digital homes and networks for non-profit communities.

#Fediverse #NonProfit

https://digitalnonprofit.ca/2026/05/06/apps-for-change-building-community-owned-spaces-in-a-big-tech-world/

It’s been a busy time at

Our pilots are all live or in test, across four flavours of app.

Over the next two months, everything we’ve co-designed with our pilot communities will be embedded into our Build-an-App programme. A simplified, modular set of code and tools, enabling partner organisations to:

Create a demo app in hours. Share a test app in days. Launch a community and mobile app in weeks.

Read the full building in public update here: https://www.blog-pat.ch/apps-for-change/

It’s almost time to say goodbye to the

home for the last two days - the #ONA26 Midway.

We’ve had lots of conversations about audience engagement, community, and building social networks for #journalism.

We look forward to rolling out pilots in the US over the coming year. If you know a small, indie newsroom who’d be interested, send them our way!

#NoKings Chicago - this is big!

What a team! Snuck into this photo with #TootWales - thanks for a wonderful event

Here's an update on what we're doing at

. We're excited to be working with ten pilot communities, building community apps and platforms on Mastodon and Bonfire. Our apps come in five flavours: news, content creators, professional networks, hyper-local and local language Fediverse communities. We're working all around the world, in the UK, Germany, Brazil, Africa, Canada and the US. If you know any organisations like this, do put us in touch!

https://www.blog-pat.ch/your-community-your-platform/

Great presentation today from

on the Decentralised Communication track at #FOSDEM. Previewing two exciting initiatives Bonfire is working on with

and @klasse_methode. Look forward to many more!

Last week I hooked up with

from Tŵt Cymru, the community-owned Welsh social network. We’re combining forces to launch the first Tŵt app on March 1st, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant (St David’s Day).

The Tŵt mobile app is vibrantly Welsh, easily accessible for new users, and a model for social communities worldwide. Reflecting the Pethau Bychain (Little Things) campaign behind the app. It’s all about building a digital commons from small acts of hospitality and kindness.

https://jaz.co.uk/2026/01/13/there-is-one-fediverse-there-are-a-thousand-ways-to-join-it/

Futility or hope: pink flowers, crowbars and compost.

On New Year’s Eve

shared a link to John Green’s review of Auld Lang Syne, resurfacing Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s question: how do we perceive a bright pink flower growing in an alley?

Looking back through the lens of 2025, a rough year in so many ways, the flower can look like futility. A tiny plant crushed by dark forces. Looking forward to 2026, it’s a symbol of hope.

Here’s why I’m excited about 2026.

https://www.blog-pat.ch/futility-or-hope-pink-flowers-crowbars-compost/

I was at the Thompson Reuters Trust Conference last week. Blinded by AI and blindsided by Trump, liberal institutions are in survival mode. instead of making a stand, they're doing all they can to blend into the background, making themselves invisible in order to survive.

How can those of us working in the Open Social Web fight back? Sarah Connor offers inspiration.

#Fediverse

https://www.blog-pat.ch/the-end-of-liberalism-and-the-beginnings-of-resistance/