I have been using Matrix since I’ve been on Lemmy. It’s an open source encrypted chat application, and obviously Lemmy DMs are not encrypted so it’s kinda necessary for private communication. I have a few questions though.
Is there a community about Matrix on Lemmy?
Is Matrix technically part of the fediverse? I noticed it does not appear on fedidb.com. On a related note, what is the active userbase size?
Who is the developer/team and do they have an active presence on the fediverse?
Thank you for anyone who can answer my questions and also to the Matrix devs, I greatly appreciate you. But I am just curious about some of the details about Matrix which I already know about for Lemmy, Piefed, Mbin, etc. Matrix is an essential component of the fediverse ecosystem, so I think it would be prudent to have a greater understanding of it and potentially seek more cross-pollination and/or collaboration between the threadiverse and Matrix.
Depends on your definition of Fediverse, but I think most people would say no, even though it is a federated protocol.
The company behind Matrix it is known to vastly inflate user-numbers for scamming investors, but a somewhat realistic estimate for the openly federated Matrix network is 200-300k MAU (as shared by the Element CEO when pressed on a realistic number).
It is mostly developed by Element / New Vector Inc., but they have a non-profit front with the Matrix Foundation.
You didn’t ask, but conceptually Matrix is closer to Bluesky than to the Fediverse. If you want a Fediverse equivalent for chat, look into XMPP/Jabber, which is based on an truly open standard and is democratically governed by an independent community organization.