path: root/doc/README.md

Hubzilla - Hub Deployment Platform
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![Hubzilla](images/ghash-32.png)

**What are Hubs?**

Hubs are independent general-purpose websites that not only connect with their associated members and viewers, but also connect together to exchange personal communications and other information with each other.  
This allows hub members on any hub to securely and privately share anything; with anybody, on any hub - anywhere; or share stuff publicly with anybody on the internet if desired. 

**Hubzilla** is the server software which makes this possible. It is a sophisticated and unique combination of an open source content management system and a decentralised identity, communications, and permissions framework and protocol suite, built using common webserver technology (PHP/MySQL/Apache, although Mariadb or Postgres and Nginx could also be used - we're pretty easy). The end result is a level of systems integration, privacy control, and communications features that you wouldn't think are possible in either a content management system or a decentralised communications network. It also brings a new level of cooperation and privacy to the web and introduces the concept of personally owned "single sign-on" to web services across the entire internet. 

Hubzilla hubs are

* decentralised
* inherently social
* optionally inter-networked with other hubs
* privacy-enabled (privacy exclusions work across the entire internet to any registered identity on any compatible hubs)

Possible website applications include

* decentralised social networking nodes
* personal cloud storage
* file dropboxes
* managing organisational communications and activities
* collaboration and community decision-making
* small business websites
* public and private media/file libraries
* blogs
* event promotion
* feed aggregation and republishing
* forums
* dating websites
* pretty much anything you can do on a traditional blog or community website, but that you could do better if you could easily connect it with other websites or privately share things across website boundaries.