{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@chris_evelyn",
        "url": "https://troet.cafe/@chris_evelyn",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://troet.cafe/@chris_evelyn/110673196820349812",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Was mir gerade einf\u00e4llt: Lebt das <a href=\"https://troet.cafe/tags/IndieWeb\">#<span>IndieWeb</span></a> eigentlich noch? Gibts da interessante, aktuelle Sachen?</p>",
        "text": "Was mir gerade einf\u00e4llt: Lebt das #IndieWeb eigentlich noch? Gibts da interessante, aktuelle Sachen?"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T14:09:25+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38243176",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "Manton Reece",
        "url": "https://www.manton.org/",
        "photo": "https://micro.blog/manton/avatar.jpg"
    },
    "url": "https://www.manton.org/2023/07/07/my-posting-workflow.html",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>My posting workflow this morning: I post to my blog from my Mac, it goes out via ActivityPub, RSS of course, and Micro.blog sends it to Bluesky and Nostr. Then I go to my iPhone and\u2026 copy/paste it into Threads! iPhone-only may have been alright for Instagram, but it\u2019s not gonna fly here for long.</p>",
        "text": "My posting workflow this morning: I post to my blog from my Mac, it goes out via ActivityPub, RSS of course, and Micro.blog sends it to Bluesky and Nostr. Then I go to my iPhone and\u2026 copy/paste it into Threads! iPhone-only may have been alright for Instagram, but it\u2019s not gonna fly here for long."
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T08:27:01-05:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38243060",
    "_source": "12",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "Manton Reece",
        "url": "https://www.manton.org/",
        "photo": "https://micro.blog/manton/avatar.jpg"
    },
    "url": "https://www.manton.org/2023/07/07/watching-cnn-this.html",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Watching CNN this morning over breakfast, they said \u201cfediverse\u201d\u2026 So yeah, decentralization is edging into the mainstream. Progress.</p>",
        "text": "Watching CNN this morning over breakfast, they said \u201cfediverse\u201d\u2026 So yeah, decentralization is edging into the mainstream. Progress."
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T07:31:11-05:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38242117",
    "_source": "12",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@janboddez",
        "url": "https://indieweb.social/@janboddez",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://indieweb.social/@janboddez/110672692739047628",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>When I write a \"note,\" it shows up on <a href=\"https://jan.boddez.net/notes\"><span>https://</span><span>jan.boddez.net/notes</span><span></span></a>. It is also crossposted (if it's not too long, at least) to this here Mastodon account.</p><p>When I then reply to it, the Mastodon copies are correctly threaded.</p><p>Over on the main blog, the second note triggers a webmention; as a result, it gets added as a comment underneath the original.</p><p>Yay</p><p><a href=\"https://indieweb.social/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://indieweb.social/tags/wordpress\">#<span>wordpress</span></a></p>",
        "text": "When I write a \"note,\" it shows up on https://jan.boddez.net/notes. It is also crossposted (if it's not too long, at least) to this here Mastodon account.When I then reply to it, the Mastodon copies are correctly threaded.Over on the main blog, the second note triggers a webmention; as a result, it gets added as a comment underneath the original.Yay#indieweb #wordpress"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T12:01:13+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38241381",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@ton",
        "url": "https://m.tzyl.eu/@ton",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://m.tzyl.eu/@ton/110671568368560973",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p><span class=\"h-card\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https://sunny.garden/@ArpComics\">@<span>ArpComics</span></a></span> what do you use for webmention in wordpress? The <a href=\"https://m.tzyl.eu/tags/IndieWeb\">#<span>IndieWeb</span></a> Webmention plugin? And do you use brid.gy to port wm's back from Mastodon to your WP site?</p>",
        "text": "@ArpComics what do you use for webmention in wordpress? The #IndieWeb Webmention plugin? And do you use brid.gy to port wm's back from Mastodon to your WP site?"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T07:15:16+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38238558",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@brianleroux",
        "url": "https://indieweb.social/@brianleroux",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://indieweb.social/@brianleroux/110671087470720698",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>protocols &gt; platforms</p><p>always! </p><p>protocols + open source + open governance: a long game but unstoppable</p><p><a href=\"https://indieweb.social/tags/fediverse\">#<span>fediverse</span></a> <a href=\"https://indieweb.social/tags/activitypub\">#<span>activitypub</span></a> <a href=\"https://indieweb.social/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a></p>",
        "text": "protocols > platformsalways! protocols + open source + open governance: a long game but unstoppable#fediverse #activitypub #indieweb"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T05:12:59+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38237629",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@tim",
        "url": "https://mastodon.timnolte.com/@tim",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mastodon.timnolte.com/@tim/110670871307271730",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p><span class=\"h-card\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https://calckey.social/@atomicpoet\">@<span>atomicpoet</span></a></span> <span class=\"h-card\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https://venera.social/profile/fediversenews\">@<span>fediversenews</span></a></span> I highly doubt there is some back-door dealing between Automattic &amp; Meta concerning ActivityPub. I've interacted with <span class=\"h-card\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https://mastodon.social/@pfefferle\">@<span>pfefferle</span></a></span> for years, and have been using the <a href=\"https://mastodon.timnolte.com/tags/ActivityPub\">#<span>ActivityPub</span></a> plugin for <a href=\"https://mastodon.timnolte.com/tags/WordPress\">#<span>WordPress</span></a> on my site, and he is still involved in the day-to-day development of ActivityPub for WordPress. Matthias has been involved with the <a href=\"https://mastodon.timnolte.com/tags/IndieWeb\">#<span>IndieWeb</span></a> &amp; <a href=\"https://mastodon.timnolte.com/tags/Fediverse\">#<span>Fediverse</span></a> for years, I've followed, and still follow what's going on in the IndieWeb Slack. Let's not talk conspiracies.</p>",
        "text": "@atomicpoet @fediversenews I highly doubt there is some back-door dealing between Automattic & Meta concerning ActivityPub. I've interacted with @pfefferle for years, and have been using the #ActivityPub plugin for #WordPress on my site, and he is still involved in the day-to-day development of ActivityPub for WordPress. Matthias has been involved with the #IndieWeb & #Fediverse for years, I've followed, and still follow what's going on in the IndieWeb Slack. Let's not talk conspiracies."
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T04:18:00+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38237274",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@aegreen",
        "url": "https://indieweb.social/@aegreen",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://indieweb.social/@aegreen/110670141523458765",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Exploring the <a href=\"https://indieweb.social/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> .</p>",
        "text": "Exploring the #indieweb ."
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T01:12:25+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38235870",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@redux",
        "url": "https://fosstodon.org/@redux",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://fosstodon.org/@redux/110670075754834040",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Sorry for being so out of touch but I'm cleaning the source code of the web portal for a stable release with more content, resources and most importantly, an improved community page. Anyway, I'll release probably tomorrow or even today if I stop procrastinating. <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/neocities\">#<span>neocities</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/Webportal\">#<span>Webportal</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/opensource\">#<span>opensource</span></a> <br />Web portal: <a href=\"https://surfscape.neocities.org\"><span>https://</span><span>surfscape.neocities.org</span><span></span></a></p>",
        "text": "Sorry for being so out of touch but I'm cleaning the source code of the web portal for a stable release with more content, resources and most importantly, an improved community page. Anyway, I'll release probably tomorrow or even today if I stop procrastinating. #neocities #Webportal #indieweb #opensource \nWeb portal: https://surfscape.neocities.org"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-07T00:55:41+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38235733",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@twylo",
        "url": "https://mastodon.sdf.org/@twylo",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mastodon.sdf.org/@twylo/110669794365058089",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Does my website at <a href=\"https://loomcom.com\"><span>https://</span><span>loomcom.com</span><span></span></a> count as <a href=\"https://mastodon.sdf.org/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a>?</p>",
        "text": "Does my website at https://loomcom.com count as #indieweb?"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T23:44:07+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38235257",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@vga256",
        "url": "https://dialup.cafe/@vga256",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://dialup.cafe/@vga256/110669623482080442",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p><span class=\"h-card\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https://mastodon.social/@MartinBe\">@<span>MartinBe</span></a></span> i think it was <a href=\"https://dialup.cafe/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a></p>",
        "text": "@MartinBe i think it was #indieweb"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T23:00:40+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38235258",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@ArpComics",
        "url": "https://sunny.garden/@ArpComics",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://sunny.garden/@ArpComics/110669639018216033",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Anyone know a good <a href=\"https://sunny.garden/tags/tutorial\">#<span>tutorial</span></a> for <a href=\"https://sunny.garden/tags/Webmention\">#<span>Webmention</span></a> &amp; <a href=\"https://sunny.garden/tags/WordPress\">#<span>WordPress</span></a>? Comments &amp; reactions from <a href=\"https://sunny.garden/tags/Mastodon\">#<span>Mastodon</span></a> were being imported until about 3 months ago and I have no idea what changed.</p><p><a href=\"https://sunny.garden/tags/IndieWeb\">#<span>IndieWeb</span></a> <a href=\"https://sunny.garden/tags/POSSE\">#<span>POSSE</span></a></p>",
        "text": "Anyone know a good #tutorial for #Webmention & #WordPress? Comments & reactions from #Mastodon were being imported until about 3 months ago and I have no idea what changed.#IndieWeb #POSSE"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T23:04:37+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38235259",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@vga256",
        "url": "https://dialup.cafe/@vga256",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://dialup.cafe/@vga256/110669588833954487",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>can anyone tell me what the hashtag people use for web 1.0/oldwideweb stuff? the word is totally escaping me</p><p>edit: it was <a href=\"https://dialup.cafe/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a>, thanks <span class=\"h-card\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https://ecoevo.social/@ubi\">@<span>ubi</span></a></span></p>",
        "text": "can anyone tell me what the hashtag people use for web 1.0/oldwideweb stuff? the word is totally escaping meedit: it was #indieweb, thanks @ubi"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T22:51:51+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38235260",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@vga256",
        "url": "https://dialup.cafe/@vga256",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://dialup.cafe/@vga256/110669498849875845",
    "content": {
        "html": "A screenshot of tomo's new website plan homepage. It is presented as a wordperfect document loaded on a 1980s amber CGA terminal.<br /><br />\nThe post reads:<br /><br />\nDate: Thursday June 22nd, 2023<br />\nFrom: @vga256<br />\nGroups: tomo.dev<br />\nSubject: what have i done<br /><br />\n&gt; so this is the day it all began. i barfed out a mastodon post lamenting <br />\nthe loss of USENET. <br /><br />\n       | i can't believe i'm saying this - i just realized that i want #usenet groups back. to clarify - I'd like to see a usenet back, minus the \"big 8\" cabal, minus 200TB / day binaries, and all  of the ugly crap we've seen since the 80s. <br />\ni'd like to see something like a new usenet offering activitypub integration, minimal data transfer (text-only), and easy group management. <br /><br />\n&gt; a few hours later, the lamentation crystallized a bit more, and became <br />\nthe proposal for a design:",
        "text": "A screenshot of tomo's new website plan homepage. It is presented as a wordperfect document loaded on a 1980s amber CGA terminal.\n\n\nThe post reads:\n\n\nDate: Thursday June 22nd, 2023\n\nFrom: @vga256\n\nGroups: tomo.dev\n\nSubject: what have i done\n\n\n> so this is the day it all began. i barfed out a mastodon post lamenting \n\nthe loss of USENET. \n\n\n       | i can't believe i'm saying this - i just realized that i want #usenet groups back. to clarify - I'd like to see a usenet back, minus the \"big 8\" cabal, minus 200TB / day binaries, and all  of the ugly crap we've seen since the 80s. \n\ni'd like to see something like a new usenet offering activitypub integration, minimal data transfer (text-only), and easy group management. \n\n\n> a few hours later, the lamentation crystallized a bit more, and became \n\nthe proposal for a design:"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T22:28:58+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38235261",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@ubi",
        "url": "https://ecoevo.social/@ubi",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://ecoevo.social/@ubi/110669613870663691",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p><span class=\"h-card\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https://dialup.cafe/@vga256\">@<span>vga256</span></a></span> <a href=\"https://ecoevo.social/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> ?</p>",
        "text": "@vga256 #indieweb ?"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T22:58:13+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38234792",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

Adam Mosseri on why ActivityPub

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "Manton Reece",
        "url": "https://www.manton.org/",
        "photo": "https://micro.blog/manton/avatar.jpg"
    },
    "url": "https://www.manton.org/2023/07/06/adam-mosseri-on.html",
    "name": "Adam Mosseri on why ActivityPub",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>I\u2019ve been blogging short posts this week about Meta\u2019s launch of Threads, but I think it\u2019s worth a slightly longer post with a quote from this interview with the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/podcasts/special-episode-metas-twitter-rival-arrives-with-adam-mosseri.html\">on the Hard Fork podcast</a>. Adam has a couple answers to <em>why ActivityPub</em>. The part that is most revealing to me is that he sees the industry going this way already:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I do think that decentralization \u2014\u00a0but more specifically or more broadly \u2014 more open systems\u00a0are where the industry is getting pulled and is going to go over time. And for us, a new app offers us an opportunity to meaningful participate in that space, in the way that it would be very difficult to port an incredibly large app like Instagram over, and so to lean into where the industry is going.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>This didn\u2019t happen by accident. Many developers have been working to bring awareness to the problems of massive, centralize platforms \u2014\u00a0and bloggers and journalists have been doing the same \u2014 so much that users increasingly understand the value of decentralization and content ownership. Not everyone has jumped into Mastodon for various reasons, and not all smaller platforms have taken off, but it still helps get to where we are today that one of the most closed platforms ever (Facebook) is on the verge of rolling out support for an open protocol.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/07/what-to-know-about-threads/\">Eugen Rochko also blogged about this</a> as an important milestone:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The fact that large platforms are adopting ActivityPub is not only validation of the movement towards decentralized social media, but a path forward for people locked into these platforms to switch to better providers. Which in turn, puts pressure on such platforms to provide better, less exploitative services. This is a clear victory for our cause, hopefully one of many to come.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>What\u2019s next? Imagine if later this year or early next year, Tumblr is able to follow through on their goal to support ActivityPub. Having such large platforms be even halfway interoperability was only a dream a year ago.</p>",
        "text": "I\u2019ve been blogging short posts this week about Meta\u2019s launch of Threads, but I think it\u2019s worth a slightly longer post with a quote from this interview with the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, on the Hard Fork podcast. Adam has a couple answers to why ActivityPub. The part that is most revealing to me is that he sees the industry going this way already:\n\nI do think that decentralization \u2014\u00a0but more specifically or more broadly \u2014 more open systems\u00a0are where the industry is getting pulled and is going to go over time. And for us, a new app offers us an opportunity to meaningful participate in that space, in the way that it would be very difficult to port an incredibly large app like Instagram over, and so to lean into where the industry is going.\n\nThis didn\u2019t happen by accident. Many developers have been working to bring awareness to the problems of massive, centralize platforms \u2014\u00a0and bloggers and journalists have been doing the same \u2014 so much that users increasingly understand the value of decentralization and content ownership. Not everyone has jumped into Mastodon for various reasons, and not all smaller platforms have taken off, but it still helps get to where we are today that one of the most closed platforms ever (Facebook) is on the verge of rolling out support for an open protocol.\nEugen Rochko also blogged about this as an important milestone:\n\nThe fact that large platforms are adopting ActivityPub is not only validation of the movement towards decentralized social media, but a path forward for people locked into these platforms to switch to better providers. Which in turn, puts pressure on such platforms to provide better, less exploitative services. This is a clear victory for our cause, hopefully one of many to come.\n\nWhat\u2019s next? Imagine if later this year or early next year, Tumblr is able to follow through on their goal to support ActivityPub. Having such large platforms be even halfway interoperability was only a dream a year ago."
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T15:06:06-05:00",
    "category": [
        "Essays"
    ],
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "38232651",
    "_source": "12",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@moonview",
        "url": "https://toot.garden/@moonview",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://toot.garden/@moonview/110667602359898976",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p><a href=\"https://suboptimalism.neocities.org/writings/yesterweb\"><span>https://</span><span>suboptimalism.neocities.org/wr</span><span>itings/yesterweb</span></a></p><p>finding out that <a href=\"https://toot.garden/tags/yesterweb\">#<span>yesterweb</span></a>  blew up due to a 'digital guerilla' manipulating things behind the scenes, trying to make YW into a 'post-marxist' movement based in the <a href=\"https://toot.garden/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> while keeping all of that on the down-low to attract regular nostalgic webdevs into the community was... Not on my 2023 bingo card frankly!</p>",
        "text": "https://suboptimalism.neocities.org/writings/yesterwebfinding out that #yesterweb  blew up due to a 'digital guerilla' manipulating things behind the scenes, trying to make YW into a 'post-marxist' movement based in the #indieweb while keeping all of that on the down-low to attract regular nostalgic webdevs into the community was... Not on my 2023 bingo card frankly!"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T14:26:40+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38227711",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "Manton Reece",
        "url": "https://www.manton.org/",
        "photo": "https://micro.blog/manton/avatar.jpg"
    },
    "url": "https://www.manton.org/2023/07/06/ive-been-saying.html",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>I\u2019ve been saying for a while that the fediverse will likely evolve to having maybe 10 medium-sized platforms, not 1000+ small servers. It won\u2019t be a failure if Threads is one of those. It\u2019s still much better than a single platform with a billion users.</p>",
        "text": "I\u2019ve been saying for a while that the fediverse will likely evolve to having maybe 10 medium-sized platforms, not 1000+ small servers. It won\u2019t be a failure if Threads is one of those. It\u2019s still much better than a single platform with a billion users."
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T08:52:49-05:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38226775",
    "_source": "12",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "@rmdes",
        "url": "https://mstdn.social/@rmdes",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mstdn.social/@rmdes/110666915024092591",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p><span class=\"h-card\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https://techforgood.social/@dimi\">@<span>dimi</span></a></span> none, or rather my <a href=\"https://micro.blog\"><span>https://</span><span>micro.blog</span><span></span></a> which allows me to be in all of them from my blog <a href=\"https://mstdn.social/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a></p>",
        "text": "@dimi none, or rather my https://micro.blog which allows me to be in all of them from my blog #indieweb"
    },
    "published": "2023-07-06T11:31:52+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38224954",
    "_source": "7235",
    "_is_read": false
}

First thoughts about Threads

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-06T04:52:34+00:00",
    "url": "https://werd.io/2023/my-first-thoughts-about-threads",
    "name": "First thoughts about Threads",
    "content": {
        "text": "Meta\u2019s new social network is interesting: an obvious strategic shot at Twitter just as that network is running into trouble, as well as a way to iterate on its aging Facebook property. To that end, it makes sense that Meta would piggyback on the fediverse of independent social networks that interconnect through the open ActivityPub protocol, and I\u2019m genuinely very excited to see it take that leap. Meta is already the closed social networking top dog by a long shot, and by embracing Mastodon et al, it puts itself in a position of working with the open web to compete with Twitter instead of battling with both entities. For perhaps the first time ever, it also aligns Meta with the open web.By working with Instagram\u2019s accounts and social graph, and concentrating on one form factor, it gets a lot right that other decentralized social networks haven\u2019t managed yet. There\u2019s no waitlist or complicated registration procedure to figure out: if you\u2019re on Instagram, you hit a single button and you\u2019re set up.The feed starts off by showing you content from influencers and people you\u2019re already friends with on Instagram, bypassing the cold start problem that many social networks suffer from. The more people you follow on Threads, the more the feed seamlessly segues into content from people you follow. Like Instagram, there\u2019s always some new stuff in there, and there\u2019s no way to get to a chronological feed. The algorithm abides. I hate algorithmic feeds, and I find this one somewhere between annoying and maddening. I\u2019ve found myself muting brands with wild abandon, but I recognize that I\u2019m not the target audience \u2014 I can see how this would be more accessible for more casual users. Crucially, though, once federation is launched I\u2019ll be able to access Threads users from the social networking interface of my choice \u2014 a huge advantage over any other mainstream social networking platform, and a way to support power users without having to explicitly build for them.It\u2019s fairly easy to find existing friends and people you\u2019re interested in, and there\u2019s a great inline \u201cadd friend\u201d option as you see new folks pass through the feed. This isn\u2019t an entirely new mechanism - Instagram has this, and we even built it into Elgg twenty years ago - but it\u2019s noticeably easier than Mastodon in particular.The content in my feed is less cerebral and much friendlier than I get on Mastodon, which probably makes it more accessible. Of course, as soon as federation launches, I\u2019ll be able to follow folks on Threads from my Mastodon profile and vice versa. This is a boon for the fediverse overall: Threads will bring the celebrities, while Mastodon will bring the academics and activists. The net result will be a mix of everything and everyone, with a choice of user interfaces and host services, in a way that a closed social network could never manage.Because the goal is, in effect, to grow a bigger pie for this kind of service, I think Meta would be wise to think about how to help build an ecosystem of interoperable tools and services. Assuming Threads takes off, ActivityPub will be the way social networks interoperate for at least the next decade and the majority of ActivityPub profiles will be Meta-hosted. Given this, providing an easy to use SDK, potentially an AWS-like cloud service to make it as easy as possible to build new apps on top of the protocol, and some funding would be a great way to create developer leverage and differentiate themselves from Twitter\u2019s extortionate API pricing. (If Meta doesn\u2019t do this, by the way, this would make an amazing startup for someone else. Hell, I\u2019d gladly talk to investors myself about building this.)All in: I don\u2019t hate it. Despite the gnashing of teeth in the fediverse about Meta\u2019s arrival, if Threads implements ActivityPub cleanly I think it\u2019s actually going to be a decent addition. It may even be a boon to the whole open social web that validates the space and creates a stronger ecosystem of developers and platforms. Imagine that.",
        "html": "<p>Meta\u2019s <a href=\"https://threads.net\">new social network</a> is interesting: an obvious strategic shot at Twitter just as that network is running into trouble, as well as a way to iterate on its aging Facebook property. To that end, it makes sense that Meta would piggyback on the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse\">fediverse</a> of independent social networks that interconnect through the open <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActivityPub\">ActivityPub protocol</a>, and I\u2019m genuinely very excited to see it take that leap. Meta is already the closed social networking top dog by a long shot, and by embracing Mastodon et al, it puts itself in a position of working <em>with</em> the open web to compete with Twitter instead of battling with both entities. For perhaps the first time ever, it also aligns Meta with the open web.</p><p>By working with Instagram\u2019s accounts and social graph, and concentrating on one form factor, it gets a lot right that other decentralized social networks haven\u2019t managed yet. There\u2019s no waitlist or complicated registration procedure to figure out: if you\u2019re on Instagram, you hit a single button and you\u2019re set up.</p><p>The feed starts off by showing you content from influencers and people you\u2019re already friends with on Instagram, bypassing the cold start problem that many social networks suffer from. The more people you follow on Threads, the more the feed seamlessly segues into content from people you follow. Like Instagram, there\u2019s always some new stuff in there, and there\u2019s no way to get to a chronological feed. The algorithm abides. I <em>hate</em> algorithmic feeds, and I find this one somewhere between annoying and maddening. I\u2019ve found myself muting brands with wild abandon, but I recognize that I\u2019m not the target audience \u2014 I can see how this would be more accessible for more casual users. Crucially, though, once federation is launched I\u2019ll be able to access Threads users from the social networking interface of my choice \u2014 a huge advantage over any other mainstream social networking platform, and a way to support power users without having to explicitly build for them.</p><p>It\u2019s fairly easy to find existing friends and people you\u2019re interested in, and there\u2019s a great inline \u201cadd friend\u201d option as you see new folks pass through the feed. This isn\u2019t an entirely new mechanism - Instagram has this, and we even built it into Elgg twenty years ago - but it\u2019s noticeably easier than Mastodon in particular.</p><p>The content in my feed is less cerebral and much friendlier than I get on Mastodon, which probably makes it more accessible. Of course, as soon as federation launches, I\u2019ll be able to follow folks on Threads from my Mastodon profile and vice versa. This is a boon for the fediverse overall: Threads will bring the celebrities, while Mastodon will bring the academics and activists. The net result will be a mix of everything and everyone, with a choice of user interfaces and host services, in a way that a closed social network could never manage.</p><p>Because the goal is, in effect, to grow a bigger pie for this kind of service, I think Meta would be wise to think about how to help build an ecosystem of interoperable tools and services. Assuming Threads takes off, ActivityPub will be <em>the</em> way social networks interoperate for at least the next decade <em>and</em> the majority of ActivityPub profiles will be Meta-hosted. Given this, providing an easy to use SDK, potentially an AWS-like cloud service to make it as easy as possible to build new apps on top of the protocol, and some funding would be a great way to create developer leverage and differentiate themselves from Twitter\u2019s extortionate API pricing. (If Meta <em>doesn\u2019t</em> do this, by the way, this would make an amazing startup for someone else. Hell, I\u2019d gladly talk to investors myself about building this.)</p><p>All in: I don\u2019t hate it. Despite the gnashing of teeth in the fediverse about Meta\u2019s arrival, if Threads implements ActivityPub cleanly I think it\u2019s actually going to be a decent addition. It may even be a boon to the whole open social web that validates the space and creates a stronger ecosystem of developers and platforms. Imagine that.</p><p style=\"text-align:center;\"><img style=\"margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;\" src=\"https://werd.io/file/64a648806b5c0ef97f00ba22\" alt=\"A screenshot from Meta's new Threads app\" width=\"461\" height=\"1000\" /></p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Ben Werdmuller",
        "url": "https://werd.io/profile/benwerd",
        "photo": "https://werd.io/file/5d388c5fb16ea14aac640912/thumb.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "38221297",
    "_source": "191",
    "_is_read": false
}