About Connected Places

Connected Places is a blog and newsletter that helps readers understand the world of decentralised social networks. With weekly reports that explain the regular ongoings, as well as in-depth analysis, Connected Places makes sense of networks like the fediverse and Bluesky. You can find out more about what Connected Places are in this article.

Connected Places is written by me, Laurens Hof. I'm in my mid-thirties, and live in Gouda, the Netherlands. I'm an analyst at heart, having worked as one in various healthcare and education companies. With my work on the social web I'm going back to what I studied in university: how technology spreads, and how people create their own understanding of what a technology is.

In 2023 I got interested in the fediverse, and started writing the Fediverse Report as a weekly newsletter. This gradually grew over time, later covering Bluesky and the AT Protocol network as well. In Spring 2025 this work transitioned into Connected Places. I'm doing writing about these networks because I deeply care about a better social internet: in this article I write more about why I care about social networks.

Connect with me

You can find Connected Places on the following Places: Bluesky / Mastodon.

You can follow Laurens Hof on Bluesky or on Mastodon

All cover photos credit: my dad. You can see all previous artwork used on Connected Places here.