Testing. I’ve just added threads to my micro.blog cross posting. I now use micro.blog for cross posting to mastodon, bluesky & (hopefully) threads. @manton continues to provide a wonderful service.
Tag: Manton Reece
Listened to The poster’s guide to the new internet
Listened to The poster’s guide to the new internet – The Vergecast | Podcast on Spotify
In episode three of our connectivity mini series, The Verge’s David Pierce explores the idea of and , two syndication models for posting on the internet that don’t rely on a single platform.
Along with the companion article POSSE: a better way to post on social networks – The Verge this was a mostly straightforward account of POSSE.
The highlight for me was listening to Manton explaining his philosophy in a very clear way. Manton always makes perfect sense to me.
One of the original premises was just, could we rebuild a Twitter-like user experience, but based on blogs?
The timeline in micro.blog is just post from lots of feeds, lots of RSS feeds, whether they’re hosted on micro.blog, or they’re hosted somewhere else.
How do we merge those together so you don’t just have a few tabs open with your favourite websites and you’re typing in the domain name, it’s more of a newsfeed timeline experience, and that’s what people want.
But if the foundation of that, if the protocols can be open, it allows us to build so many interesting apps, so many different types of experiences.
It’ll just be way better.
What is particularly delightful to me is the way Manton starts with RSS feeds. micro.blog is almost the opposite of most other networks as it doesn’t try to lock you in an any way. I’ve been using the service since the beginning, completely free of charge as I have my own blog here.
Manton is also clear on the difficulty of getting more people away from the silos and on to their own domain and using more open services.
The comments by Matt Mullenweg, any positive move towards IndieWeb ideas from WordPress will have a huge effect.
I was quite frustrated in looking for an RSS feed for the The Vergecast. Ironic given the subject of this episode. I finlly found it on their pod.link page. I do wish RSS feed links were not becoming harder to find.
Manton Reece (manton.org)We’re on the eve of the Elon Musk / Twitter deal closing. In his Dear Twitter Advertisers letter, Elon writes: The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy mann...
The common digital “square” should be the entire web, with a diverse set of platforms. There should be common APIs but many communities with their own rules, goals, and business models. Concentrating too much power in only a couple social media companies is what created the mess we’re in. The way out is more platforms, free to make the best decisions for their users knowing that there are options to leave and less lock-in for developers.
Manton always seems to hit the nail on the head.
Reading: Indie Microblogging
One of the best $10 I’ve ever spent was on the micro.blog kickstarter. For my money I was pledged:
PDF and ePub versions of the book, plus early access to Micro.blog. You can reserve your Micro.blog username even before the book is finished.
My username is johnjohnston on micro.blog and it has been a big part of my online life since April 2017
This week I got an email from kickstarter. The draft of the Indie Microblogging book is available online at book.micro.blog.
I’ve started dipping into the book rather than reading it through. Being beautifully organised online makes this easy.
The book is lot more comprehensive than I expected. Everything I’ve read so far has delighted me. It includes, history, different platforms, interviews with lots of interesting folk. There is also technical information about microformats and other indieweb technologies. This looks like being very readable and useful.
Manton’s personal way of telling the story makes it easy to read and digest.
A couple of quotes, that might not capture the range and depth of the text but resonated very strongly with me:
Toward decentralization · Indie Microblogging
We want smaller platforms again as was common in the height of Web 2.0. Back then it was more like a fabric of web tools, where one app might build on Flickr’s API, or another app might plug in missing features in early versions of Twitter like search or photo hosting. But with indie microblogging we want to go further, even more decentralized, where platforms fade away and all we have are our own blogs, woven together as a new foundation for the social web.
Part 2: Foundation · Indie Microblogging
There weren’t enough blogs back in 2002, and there aren’t enough now. I have no doubt that some of the blogs created today will be important in the years ahead, maybe contributing to a debate on politics, or showcasing new writing or art, or serving as an archive that reflects today’s culture.
Manton asks for feedback, I’ve not spotted anything I think could be improves so far, my only feedback would be lovely stuff!
In classic primary school book reviews a question is often, who else would like this book? If you are interested in any aspect of social media, blogging or online life you will find something of interest. If you are uneasy about Facebook algorithms, or you dislike the politicians and government announcing and pronouncing on twitter, this is for you.