Previous attempts to build alternatives to dominant professional networks have either disappeared or retreated into regional niches. The reason is structural: a new centralized platform competes against network effects it cannot match. A federated approach is the only starting position that changes this.
If this direction resonates with you, you can support or contribute at any point.
Fully federated by design
ProFed does not rely on a central instance or coordinating service at any point. Any feature that would require one is out of scope – not because centralization is always wrong, but because introducing it would impose the same structural limitations that hold back any newly emerging centralized platform.
Protocol-first thinking
ActivityPub is the foundation the system is designed around, not an integration layer added later. Building on it puts ProFed in the same network as the rest of the Fediverse from the start, though achieving real interoperability still requires careful work with the quirks of existing implementations. Where ActivityPub does not cover a specific need, ProFed builds on other established formats and conventions rather than inventing something new.
Federation in practice
ActivityPub defines how instances communicate, but not everything professional networking requires. Profile structure, CV data, job descriptions – these need more shape than the base protocol provides.
ProFed fills these gaps by building on existing conventions. Professional profiles can draw on the h-resume
microformat, for example, rather than introducing a new format that no other
system understands.
Why this matters
The Fediverse already works. Microblogging, publishing, video, podcasting, community platforms – all coexist in the same federated network without requiring agreement on anything beyond the protocol.
Professional networking is not yet part of that picture. ProFed is an attempt to change that – not by building a new silo, but by making professional networking a native capability of the network that already exists.
Next: Support or contribute
Further reading