[7][8] It strives to provide an extensible, federated, and freedom-respectful software alternative to major media publishing services such as Flickr, DeviantArt, and YouTube.

[9][10] The origins of GNU MediaGoblin date back to 2008, when a gathering was held at the Free Software Foundation in order to discuss the path that Internet communities should take.

Each user owns a personal profile comprised by two vertical sections – one for uploads arranged as a gallery and another with a customizable text box.

Some other features like tags, metadata, theming, Creative Commons licensing and GPS support can be enabled as separate plug-ins to enrich the usage of GNU MediaGoblin.

[24] The platform successfully hosts and displays many sorts of media: The project mascot is a purple goblin called Gavroche wearing clothing that resembles a stereotypical artist costume.