Hey followers! Today, we’re diving into a fresh way to connect online with Bonfire Social, a new platform that puts the power back into your hands.
Bonfire Social is here to shake up the social media scene by offering a flexible, open-source framework for community building. Launched at the FediForum online conference, this federated app uses the same protocol as Mastodon, called ActivityPub, but with a twist: it’s highly modular and customizable. Imagine having more say over how your community works, the features you want, and your own development roadmap.
The vibe of Bonfire is all about freedom and disruption. It’s a nonprofit project, funded by donations and grants, with no venture capital influence. The goal? To foster online spaces where everyone can thrive without the control of big corporations like Meta or Google. Its code is open for everyone to see and improve, encouraging collaboration with communities and researchers alike.
Currently in its 1.0 Release Candidate stage, Bonfire offers community members a choice of “flavors”—preconfigured setups combining extensions, features, and default settings. Communities can run their own flavor, tweak it as they please, add new features, and craft their own future. This approach brings social software back under user control, rather than being at the mercy of platform whims.
As it develops, Bonfire plans to introduce other flavors such as Bonfire Community and Open Science. Any community can create its own version, making this a truly versatile tool for online gathering. Think of it as a starting kit that you can customize to fit your community’s needs perfectly.
Using Bonfire Social feels familiar—feeds, user profiles, post sharing, blocking, and flagging are all there. But it also includes unique features like customizable feeds, nested discussions, multiple profiles per user, rich-text posts, and access controls. Users can build their custom feeds by filtering content based on type, date, engagement, and even circles—groups of contacts similar to Google+ Circles, but with enhanced privacy and sharing options.
Bonfire also introduces Boundaries, giving users control over who can see or comment on their content, making privacy manageable and tailored. Threaded conversations help communities dig into deeper topics through nested replies, fostering richer discussions. Plus, users can personalize their appearance and layout, or create multiple profiles—helpful for businesses, projects, or private personas.
At launch, the platform supports Progressive Web App (PWA) functionality for mobile use, community blocklists, custom emojis, full-text search, direct messaging, private groups with nested threads, and extendable features through add-ons. Since it’s built on ActivityPub, Bonfire can federate with Mastodon and other Fediverse platforms, making it easy to connect across different networks.
For those eager to try it out, a demo instance is available online. Whether you’re a community leader, developer, or just social media enthusiast, Bonfire introduces a new level of personal control and adaptability to online interactions.