Conversation

Because people are confused about what Mastodon is in relation to the Fediverse:

1. Fediverse: collection of protocols, software, and instances that make up a federated collection of de-centralized social media

2. Mastodon: software that allows you to connect and interact with the Fediverse

3. Instances: individual websites and servers that run software—sometimes Mastodon, sometimes not, that connects to the Fediverse

Confusingly, some instances call themselves "Mastodon".