micro.blog is a microblogging and social networking service created by Manton Reece, the first large multi-user social media service to support the Webmention and Micropub standards published by the World Wide Web Consortium.[1]
Micro.blog has features similar to Twitter or Instagram,[2] and provides for posting status updates, articles, photos, short podcasts, and video.[3]
It was launched on April 24, 2017, after a Kickstarter campaign that reached its funding target within one day.[4][5] The service was built using Jekyll, and users can post using hosted accounts, then use RSS feeds to export their posts, and syndicate them into the network from other websites they run. Users can also import their posts from Twitter and the defunct microblogging service App.net.
micro.blog is specifically designed to be a "POSSE" based publishing model [6] - this is an acronym for "Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere." This publishing model involves the end user posting content to their own domain name based site first, then using web standards to syndicate to multiple other social networks and platforms.[7]
Currently micro.blog supports syndication to Facebook Pages, as well as to Twitter, Facebook, Medium, LinkedIn, Mastodon, and Tumblr accounts.[8][9] It also supports importing from data exported from WordPress,[10] and supports cross-posting from Instagram to micro.blog.[11]
The web hosting service DreamHost supported micro.blog's Kickstarter campaign,[12] and announced their intent to help customers create independent microblogs hosted at DreamHost that are compatible with micro.blog.[13]
Client applications
See also
References
- ^ "indieweb network - IndieWeb". indieweb.org.
- ^ Newport, Cal (2019-05-18). "Can "Indie" Social Media Save Us?". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
In 2017, Manton Reece, an IndieWeb developer based in Austin, Texas, launched a Kickstarter for a service called Micro.blog. On its surface, Micro.blog looks a lot like Twitter or Instagram; you can follow users and see their posts sorted into a time line, and, if you like a post, you can send a reply that everyone can see. When I checked Micro.blog’s public time line recently, the top post was a picture of a blooming dogwood tree, with the caption “Spring is coming!” Even as it offers a familiar interface, though, everyone posting to Micro.blog does so on his or her own domain hosted on Micro.blog’s server or on their own personal server. Reece’s software acts as an aggregator, facilitating a sense of community and gathering users’ content so that it can be seen on a single screen. Users own what they write and can do whatever they want with it—including post it, simultaneously, to other competing aggregators. IndieWeb developers argue that this system—which they call posse, for “publish on your own site, syndicate elsewhere”—encourages competition and innovation while allowing users to vote with their feet. If Reece were to begin aggressively harvesting user data, or if another service were to start offering richer features, users could shift their attention from one aggregator to another with little effort. They wouldn’t be trapped on a platform that owns everything they’ve written and is doing everything it can to exploit their data and attention.
- ^ Sorrel, Charlie (2019-04-19). "Micro.blog now lets you post videos". Cult of Mac. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
- ^ White, Nicholas (2017-01-04). "Indie Microblogging Kickstarter Project in Austin Reaches its Goal in One Day". Silicon Hill News. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
- ^ Reece, Manton (2017-01-03). "Indie Microblogging: owning your short-form writing". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
- ^ "Micro.blog". micro.blog. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
- ^ "POSSE - IndieWeb". indieweb.org. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
- ^ "Cross-posting to Twitter, Medium, Mastodon, and more". help.micro.blog. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
- ^ Gooding, Sarah (2019-08-26). "Micro.blog Adds Tumblr Cross-Posting". WP Tavern. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
- ^ "Setting up WordPress". help.micro.blog. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
- ^ "Cross-posting to Micro.blog from Instagram". help.micro.blog. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
- ^ DreamHost (24 January 2017). "Pitching in to Support the Open Web".
- ^ "Micro.blog Project Surges Past $65K on Kickstarter, Gains Backing from DreamHost". 26 January 2017.
- ^ "Microcasting On micro.blog With Wavelength".
- ^ "Sunlit 2.0 Released As A micro.blog And Wordpress Photo Blogging App".
- ^ "Icro 1.0".
External links