tags.pub is a new service under development by the Social Web Foundation. It is a global hashtag server — it lets you follow a hashtag across the Fediverse. There’s lots of information on the tags.pub home page, and I (Evan) did a talk about tags.pub at FOSDEM 2026. This blog post answers some basics about tags.pub.
Social Web Foundation https://tags.pub/user/_____relay_____/inbox (Mastodon) or https://tags.pub/user/_____relay_____ (Pleroma) to your server relays. This is a one-way pipe — your server will send public posts to tags.pub, but tags.pub won’t send all its public data back to you. Instead, your users should follow hashtag accounts to get specific feeds.Next week is European Open Source Week in Brussels, culminating in FOSDEM 2026 on the weekend. There are several important ways to stay connected to the Fediverse while you’re visiting this week!
As always, watch the #FOSDEM and #socialwebfosdem and #FOSDEM2026 hashtags for news and updates.
If you’re not travelling to Brussels, watch for streaming video from room H.2215 . There are also Fediverse events happening throughout the world throughout the year; Fediforum keeps a great list of the most prominent.
The schedule for the Social Web Developer Room at FOSDEM 2026 is starting to be populated as the speakers confirm their availability. We had a tonne of great submissions for this year’s track, and even with double the time from last year, we still had to leave some great talks on the cutting room floor. But we still managed to fit in 24 great talks, large and small. We’re going to see some additional events happening as FOSDEM 2026 gets nearer. Watch the #SOCIALWEBFOSDEM hashtag for more news and events.
Hey, all. One thing that’s different this year about the Social Web Devroom at FOSDEM 2026 is that we’re going to include talks about the organizational and social aspects of rolling out Open Source Fediverse software for individuals and communities. Last year, we focused pretty heavily on technical talks from the principle developers of FLOSS packages. This year, we want to make sure the other aspects of Fediverse growth and improvement are covered, too.
Consequently, the guidance for last year’s event, which was focused on how to make a great technical presentation, might seem a little outdated. But on reviewing it, I’ve found that it still has good advice for social and organizational talks. Just like software developers, community builders see problems and construct solutions for them. The solutions aren’t just about writing code, though; more often they involve bringing people together, assembling off-the-shelf tools, and making processes and rules for interaction.
Talks about Open Source software to implement ActivityPub and build the social web are still welcome, of course. We’re just expanding a bit to cover the human aspects of the Fediverse as well.
I’m looking forward to having the interesting discussions about bringing people together to make the Social Web. If you haven’t already, please consider submitting a talk to https://pretalx.fosdem.org/fosdem-2026/cfp. Select “Social Web” from the “Track” dropdown, and include the length of your talk (8/25/50) in the submission notes. The deadline is December 1, 2025, so get them in as soon as possible!
The Social Web Foundation is pleased to announce the Social Web Devroom at FOSDEM 2026, and invite participants to submit proposals for talks for the event.
FOSDEM is an exciting free and open source software event in Brussels, Belgium that brings together thousands of enthusiasts from around the world. The event spans the weekend of January 31 to February 1, 2026 and features discussion tracks (“devrooms”) for scores of different technology topics.
The Social Web Devroom will take place on Saturday, January 31.
There will be three available talk formats:
The Social Web Devroom is open to talks all about the Social Web AKA the Fediverse, including:
Submit talk proposals to https://pretalx.fosdem.org/fosdem-2026/cfp. Select “Social Web” from the “Track” dropdown, and include the length of your talk (8/25/50) in the submission notes. (Note that the “Lightning Talks” track is a separate event-wide track; if you’re proposing a Social Web micro-talk, please choose the “Social Web” track!)
All attendees and speakers must be familiar with and agree to the FOSDEM Code of Conduct.
Questions about topics, formats, or the Social Web in general should go to contact@socialwebfoundation.org.
A quick update for people at #FOSDEM who are interested in the Fediverse. There are three main public events: the Social Web Devroom is a main track in room ua2118 from 3pm to 7pm Sat Feb 1. The Social Web BOF (“birds of a feather”) is on Sunday Feb 2 from 12pm to 1pm in . Finally, Social Web After Hours is on Sunday Feb 2 from 7pm to 9pm at HSBXL. And use the #SocialWebFOSDEM hashtag to track the community on the Fediverse!
Are you coming to FOSDEM 2025 to attend the Social Web Devroom? Do you like helping make things happen? We need volunteers to help with the audio/visual (A/V) system (no experience necessary), to answer questions at the door, to coordinate questions, to keep time for the speakers, and otherwise keep things moving smoothly. Reply here if you’d like to help out, or email social-web-devroom-manager@fosdem.org .
We’ve got an amazing lineup for the Social Web Devroom at FOSDEM 2025. We managed to fit 12 talks into 4 hours, covering a huge range of topics related to Open Source software and the Social Web.
FOSDEM is the premier Free and Open Source software conference in Europe. It’s a grass-roots event, available free of charge, and attracts hackers and advocates from around the world. The event is organized into presentation tracks called “developer rooms” or “devrooms”, which bring afficionados of a particular technology all together for a long block of presentations on related topics.
The main programming in the Social Web dev room on Saturday, Feb 1, will focus primarily on technical topics. A related Social Web Birds of a Feather (BOF) meetup on Sunday, Feb 2 will feature another 5 presentations about social aspects and advocacy for the Fediverse. It’s still in the scheduling phase; BOFs get scheduled late at FOSDEM. But the speakers have confirmed, and it should be a really good track.
Finally, SWF and Hacker Space Brussels are hosting Social Web After Hours on Sunday, Feb 2. It should provide some closing talk. Some of the most interesting speakers in the Social Web will be presenting; this should be a great way to wrap up the FOSDEM weekend.
To stay informed about Social Web activities at FOSDEM, follow the #SocialWebFOSDEM hashtag, or join the Social Web Devroom Matrix channel on the FOSDEM Matrix server.
I have good news and bad news. Our Call for Participation for the Social Web track at FOSDEM 2025 was extremely successful; we had almost 40 submissions of great talks about Free and Open Source software for the Fediverse.
The bad news is that we’ve got only a 4 hours of time at FOSDEM, and we’ve been unable to allocate more time for the track.
So, right now, I’m looking for space in Brussels for additional space for an offsite event — “Social Web After Hours”, let’s call it — to run on Friday night Jan 31 or Sunday night Feb 2.
If you’re aware of a meeting space in Brussels, close to the centre or to the FOSDEM venue, that would accommodate an audience of 50-100 people and has screens for presentations, available for maybe 2 hours, please let me know. It would be great to have some Social Web discussions on the FOSDEM fringe.
Earlier this month, we made a call for participation for the Social Web Devroom at FOSDEM 2025 . I’ve also been contacting the leading Free and Open Source software developers working on ActivityPub, Mastodon clients, tools, frameworks, and libraries to make sure they’re aware of the event.
One of the main questions I’ve had is: “I’m a software developer, not a marketer or product manager. I’m not used to giving presentations about my work. What should I say, and how should I say it?” Instead of answering a dozen emails and DMs with the same info, I thought it would be good to provide some guidelines in a public blog post, for anyone who’s planning to submit a proposal.
These are meant to be helpful hints to people who are feeling blocked about giving a presentation, not absolute requirements. If you don’t want or need this advice, skip it!
The audience at FOSDEM roughly breaks down into two main groups: Free and Open Source software developers, and Free and Open Source software superfans. There is a big intersection between these two sets!
Regardless, there are just a few things that the members of the audience are there to find out from your presentation:
Everyone at the event will be familiar with Free and Open Source software; most of the people in the room will be familiar with the advantages of the Fediverse over siloed social networking. Many will be Fediverse developers themselves.
For your presentation, try to follow these guidelines:
This is a sample outline for a 25-minute presentation with 20-30 slides. You don’t have to follow this if you have better ideas for flow; this is just a guideline for those who need a skeleton.
For an 8-minute lightning talk, keep it super tight! Here’s an 8-slide presentation outline:
The key to a successful presentation is preparing well ahead of time. Make an outline early, and then transfer it to slides. Add speaker notes. Make placeholders for images; don’t work too hard on visual aspects until you’re sure of the structure and content. Practice just the words for yourself, and make sure to check the time. Practice at least once for an audience, even if it’s your mom or your cat. Do the visual aspects last, once you know the structure and the text are correct. Practice words and names that might be challenging.
We’re all going to be in the Social Web Devroom because we care about the Fediverse. If you can show how and why you think the Fediverse matters and your project will make it better, we’re going to be right there with you. Thanks for considering a proposal!