In the 1990s, we saw an acceleration from walled gardens like America Online to the open web. As we all know, this marked an era of exciting innovation and meteoric growth. But, over time, we witnessed the rise of a new set of walled gardens: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and more.

Is history about to repeat itself? Will the open social web become a mainstream alternative to the walled gardens we live in today? Will people own their online relationships, or will there always be a company that owns these?

That’s the subject of the first episode of Dot Social, a podcast about the world of decentralized social media — also known as the Fediverse. Each episode, host (and Flipboard co-founder and CEO) Mike McCue talks to a leader in this movement; someone who sees the Fediverse’s tremendous potential and understands that this could be the Internet’s next wave. Mike is a true believer in the open social Web and what it will unlock for how we connect, communicate and innovate online.

Episode 1 features Mike’s conversation with journalist Mike Masnick.

In 1988, Mike founded the blog Techdirt, and in 2019, he wrote a seminal paper called “Protocols Not Platforms,” in which he predicted the scenario unfolding before our eyes today. Mike has long informed an influential audience of lawmakers, CEOs and activists. In fact, The New York Times called him “something of a Silicon Valley oracle.”

In this interview, Mike McCue checks in with Mike Masnick to see how things have gone since he wrote the paper. The two “Mike Ms” discuss the open social web’s current landscape and what it will enable, which services have the most potential, why feeds are the new websites, and so much more.