Fediverse House @ SXSW

Note: SXSW ticket purchases are not required for this event.

Flipboard and Surf are excited to host the first-ever Fediverse House at SXSW. Join us to learn about the brave new world of decentralized social media and why it promises a better way for consumers, creators, brands, and even democracy itself.

Located just three blocks from the Austin Convention Center, at the Speakeasy (412 Congress Ave.), the Fediverse House creates a space for strategic conversations, networking opportunities, and refreshments throughout the day. You’ll hear from visionaries, builders, and open-source advocates from places like Bluesky, Threads, the Social Web Foundation, and 404 Media.

Schedule

Sunday, March 9

Accelerating Innovation Across the Open Social Web (Part 1) / RSVP

• 9am: Fediverse House at SXSW is open! Stop by for coffee and a morning of inspirational talks on the future of social and the internet.
• 9:30am: Welcome from Mike McCue, CEO and Co-Founder, Flipboard
• 9:45am: “A Better Web Is Possible” with Molly White, Researcher, Software Engineer and Writer
• 10am – 11am: David Imel’s “Fediverse Corner” with Mike Masnick, Board of Directors, Bluesky; Evan Prodromou, Co-author ActivityPub and Research Director, Social Web Foundation; and Peter Cottle, Software Engineer, Threads
• 11:30am – 1:30pm: Networking session and light lunch, presented by the Social Web Foundation 
• 2pm – 3pm: Developer meetup and book signing with ActivityPub Co-author Evan Prodromou / RSVP

Accelerating Innovation Across the Open Social Web (Part 2) / RSVP

• 4pm – 4:45pm: TBA
• 5pm – 5:45pm: Fireside chat with Bluesky CTO Paul Frazee and Mike McCue 
• 6pm – 7pm: “Dot Social Live” with David Imel, co-host of Waveform podcast, and Mike McCue

The Open Social Social / RSVP

• 7pm – 10pm: Evening party — refreshments and tunes with your new fedi friends 

Monday, March 10

The New Playbook / RSVP

• 9am – 9:45am: “From Walled Gardens to the Open Social Web: The Next Evolution of Brand Storytelling” with Gina Michnowicz, CEO and CCO at The Craftsman Agency
• 10am – 10:45am: “Creators and the Fediverse,” with Peter Cottle, Software Engineer, Threads, and TBA, moderated by Shira Lazar, Creator and Founder of What’s Trending
• 11am – 11:45am: “Building Communities,” with Rose Wang, COO, Bluesky, and Andy Piper, Developer Relations Lead, Mastodon, moderated by Mia Quagliarello, Head of Creator Community, Flipboard
• 12:30pm – 2pm: Networking lunch and demo of Surf*, a new kind of browser unifying the social web, with Mike McCue

Publishers in the Fediverse / RSVP

• 3pm: Fireside chat with Cory Doctorow, Journalist and Sci-Fi Author, and Mike McCue 
• 4pm – 4:45pm: “Publishers: Audience and Autonomy” with 404 Media’s Jason Koebler, Texas Observer’s Kit O’Connell, and TBA

404 Media Takeover and Evening Party  / RSVP

• 5pm – 5:45pm: “Generative AI Is Eating the Internet”: 404 Media’s Sam Cole and Jason Koebler and Blood in the Machine’s Brian Merchant discuss how AI slop is taking over the internet, and how humans can fight back.
• 6pm – 6:45 pm: “Indie Media Happy Hour and Q&A”: A free-flowing discussion about how to set up and run an independent media outlet featuring 404 Media and friends 
• 7pm – 10pm: Evening party hosted by your friends at 404 Media

To get access before SXSW, go here and use SURFSXSW as the referral code.