EU projects on #fediverse
What do we offer?
We provide a place for EU-funded projects on the Fediverse/Mastodon server at the domain @euproject.info.
Are you an EU co-funded project representative and looking for additional dissemination channels independent from corporate social media like X(Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn...?
Are you tired of ads on social media, algorithms that do not show your posts to your followers and vendor lock-in?
Your project can be a part of fediverse*, too!
Your project can post updates as @YOURPROJECT@euproject.info
This is a paid service.
How does it look like?
Check the live feed here: https://euproject.info/public/local
For whom?
This service is for EU co-funded project representatives, persons who are responsible for the dissemination of project-related information (social media managers).
Example of projects that are invited (EU programmes):
Horizon Europe,
Erasmus+,
Life,
Creative Europe,
...
Target groups: who is using fediverse the most?
age: currently there are more adults,
marginalised groups: users, that were harassed on corporate social networks found their safe harbour on fediverse,
STEM: there are a lot of technically savvy users on fediverse.
If your project is targeting this kind of users, then fediverse can be a good place for the dissemination of your project.
Fediverse is smaller than big social networks (about 10 million users as of 2024) but with steady growth. There are more than 20,000 active servers (communities). You can check some statistics about users and servers here.
Pricing
We offer yearly subscriptions per account(project):
1 year: 120€
2 years: 200€
3 years: 280€
Signup process and payment
step: read the rules of our server (About section, Server rules) and Terms of Service.
step: fill in the order form:
fill in your basic info (company, VAT, ...,)
fill in the evidence that a) the project exists and b) you are a member of a project team.
Examples of evidence: proof that the project exists (e. g. link to a project web page or EU commission's list of projects) + any document that proves you are a member of a project team.
step: you will receive an invoice and instructions for payment (wire transfer or Paypal).
if you have a discount code for free account, there will be no invoice and charge
step: create a new project account on our server (YOURPROJECTNAME@euproject.info).
step: the admin will review your account registration and confirm it (after receiving your payment).
step: now you can use your account. First steps >>.
FAQ
1. Why should I disseminate my project info on fediverse?
Because you will reach users who are not present on mainstream corporate social media (such as LinkedIn, (X)Twitter, Facebook,...).
You are 'future proof' - the future of social media is open, distributed, federated and independent.
You show a dedication to 'EU digital sovereignty'*
Your posts are shown to all your followers, not only those the algorithm (on other social media) decides.
* Europe's ability to act independently in the digital world
2. Why on this server? There are 10 000s other servers!
Our server is dedicated for EU-funded projects only. This means no personal accounts are allowed. It has an indicative domain name @euproject.info. Your project will be visible to other fediverse users as YOURPROJECT@euproject.info.
You can find potential partners for your EU projects
We check all registrations to make sure they are real persons (members of project teams).
Other servers can shut down at any time for various reasons (not enough funds, technical reasons, personal reasons - admin burnout). How do we manage these risks?
funding: we require paid accounts from the beginning
technical: we outsource hosting to specialists
personal: we plan to keep this community limited (EU project only) and have fallback mechanisms in place. But most important: Due to the nature of the fediverse, you can always migrate your accounts (followers at least) to another server!
3. What do I get for the subscription fee?
You don't have to deal with server infrastructure and other technicalities like DNS.
You can focus on the content.
We moderate discussions - this means we block 'nasty'* users, content and servers. We are using community-curated blocklists by default.
We curate the members of this community.
We will inform our followers about your project ('New projects on our server').
We have been in the business of EU-funded projects for more than 15 years, so we know the specifics of the dissemination.
* that don't adhere to server rules
4. Why should I pay, if there are a lot of free Fediverse/Mastodon servers?
Because someone always has to pay (even if you use 'free' social networks).
If you're already using some other Fediverse service for free, this usually means the admin to that server pays the hosting and other running costs either: a) out of their pocket or b) from donations or c) using some other funding or d) by charging its users.
There are running costs (server hosting, domain, moderation, administration, legal) and we want to sustain the server and the community long-term.
If you are using 'free' big social networks, you pay with your data (sold to advertisers) and attention (you have to watch ads).
Think of the branding of your project. What does the account name e. g. yourproject@mas.to look like? We think your projectname@euproject.info shows at first glance what is your account about.
5. Why shouldn't I set up our own server?
You could. Moreover, we recommend that you set up your own fediverse server with your own TLD (top-level domain). Especially if you have technical and other staff ready to deal with it.
But if you:
do not want to deal with your own server, moderation and administration,
think other domains are not appropriate and representative for your project (e. g. mastodon.social, ...)
we're covering this middle ground.
6. Where do you host your server infrastructure?
We are using masto.host services. They are specialised for hosting Mastodon servers. Their servers are located in EU, France.
7. Can I set-up multiple project accounts on your server?
Yes, sure.
8. What are the drawbacks of fediverse?
Fediverse is less known and used that big social media.
There are less users.
You have to put in more effort to get followers and to reach your target group.
It's a bit more difficult to use it currently (e. g. following users on different servers is requires 3 clicks instead of 1 click).
9. Who is already present on fediverse?
Governments
EU Commission
EU Commission and other EU institutions
Our projects:
+ 10 million other users like journalists, information security specialists and foremost, people.
10. Why should you trust us?
We're a small private family company, with 2 persons working in EU projects, education and IT since 2009.
We have mitigation measures in place, for example: no single point of failure (2 persons have admin access to the server), at least 2 moderators etc.
Business-wise: BICERO Ltd. never had a blocked bank account, no bad reviews, no lawsuits or similar. Our projects even won some 'best practices' awards. See more about us, projects or references. What do our customers say about us? If this resonates with you, welcome onboard!
What is fediverse?
If this (fediverse) is all new to you, you can read more about it:
Disclaimer and relation to EU institutions
This is a private initiative and it is not run by official EU institutions.
Got questions?
Send us an email to: support AT bicero.com
Latest news of the euproject.info server
Follow the server admin posts: https://euproject.info/@tomi