Tent is decentralized, not federated or centralized. Any Tent server can connect to any other Tent server. All features are available to any server as first-class citizens. Anyone can host their own Tent server. Tent servers can also be run as Tor hidden services to create a social darknet for at-risk organizers and activists. Anyone can write applications that connect to Tent in order to display or create user content.

Is it Diaspora? Is it IRC? Is it Twitter? Is it Wordpress?

Well, I think, yes. And no.

Twitter’s recent adoption of a hostile stance toward its developer community and, to some extent, its users, is catalyzing the market for alternatives. Matthew Panzarino reports at The Next Web that they cut off Tumblr’s ability to help you find Twitter friends who also use Tumblr, as they did with Instagram.

Further Reading

• Marco Arment’s commentary on the Tumblr news
• "The Twitter Hit List" by Matt Buchanan at BuzzFeed
• "Protocols don’t mean much" by Dave Winer at Scripting News