Overview

The open, decentralised nature of the social web has made it a sprawling network. It empowers and protects users, and creates opportunity for innovation, resulting in a huge pool of apps and platforms. However, connecting the various threads and bubbles together into thriving communities is challenging.

Patchwork looks to connect relevant conversations through Channels. Channels are “micro-Mastodon servers” which are publicly available and discoverable outside of your local server, with permissions for engagement and participation controlled by the Channel creator.

In practice, they are similar to Feeds on Bluesky.

Different ways Channels can be deployed:

• Updates & blogging - Create a content stream for your updates, blogs or other specific content, either posted locally or even integrated with Wordpress.
• Community building - Bring enthusiasts together with themed Channels, boosting organic, peer to peer connection between people across the social web.

Creating & broadcasting Channels

Channels can either be built from scratch or converted from the “All” timeline of a Community, hosted on a Patchwork enhanced server.

The creation process of a Channel from scratch is very similar to the Community creation process. See the Patchwork Community section for more detail.

Channels are broadcast through:

• Discovery Hub - Users and admins on other Patchwork servers can browse, follow and integrate your Channels to their servers through the Discovery Hub. See the Discovery Hub section for more detail.
• Feeds - Available to all social web accounts as a followable Feed. See Feeds for more detail.
• Third party apps - Your Channel can be discovered by users on third party apps if the app enables Hooks.

Feeds

Feeds mirror Channels by reposting their content to another location on the social web, allowing anyone to follow them regardless of whether their server is enhanced with Patchwork or whether they’re using a compatible app.

All content from a Community is reposted, including content that does not originate on your server. For example, if you set up a Community that includes posts from the wider network using #Bookstodon, then the Feed will repost everything from that # that comes through to your server, meaning they could be very high volume.

This gives your Channels and Communities an even more expansive reach, allowing you to network people with similar interests across the social web.

When following Feeds, It is recommended that high-volume Feeds are added to a List and muted from a user’s main timeline to avoid them taking over.

See Feeds in action and explore Newsmast Communities as Feeds here.

Integrating Channels to your server

Channels can be integrated alongside your server’s local timelines and Communities as additional timelines, either by users or at a server level by admins.

Functionally, this would mean you can introduce and participate in Communities hosted on other servers without having to leave your neighbourhood.

From launch, you’ll have the option to integrate any of Newsmast’s 60+ curated Communities covering everything from News to Science to Lifestyle.