Tumblr To Add Support For ActivityPub, the Social Protocol Powering Mastodon and Other Apps (techcrunch.com) 36
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Tumblr will add support for ActivityPub, the open, decentralized social networking protocol that's today powering social networking software like Twitter alternative Mastodon, the Instagram-like Pixelfed, video streaming service PeerTube, and others. The news was revealed in a response to a Twitter user's complaint about Mastodon's complexities. Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg -- whose company acquired Tumblr from Verizon in 2019 -- suggested the user "come to Tumblr" as the site would soon "add activitypub for interconnect."
"Don't stress," he said, before clarifying that Tumblr first has to deal with the waves of new users coming in right now from Twitter, but that support for "interop and activitypub" were due to come "ASAP." In short, this announcement means Tumblr would move from being only a niche blogging platform to instead become a part of a larger, decentralized social network of sorts -- and one whose user base has grown in size in recent days as people flee Elon Musk's Twitter in search of new communities.
The ActivityPub protocol, its website explains, provides a client-to-server API for creating, updating, and deleting content as well as a federal server-to-server API for delivering notifications and subscribing to content. In practice, this means that Mastodon users can interact and follow users on other instances (independently run nodes), as well as with users on other social apps (like PeerTube), which also support the implementation of ActivityPub. It makes for a web of social networks where users can find and follow each other without having to set up new accounts on each new service. This is the opposite approach to today's "walled garden" social networks, where a post on one platform can't be viewed by those on others, unless you re-upload or repost the content directly or share a link to the other site where the content can be found.
"Don't stress," he said, before clarifying that Tumblr first has to deal with the waves of new users coming in right now from Twitter, but that support for "interop and activitypub" were due to come "ASAP." In short, this announcement means Tumblr would move from being only a niche blogging platform to instead become a part of a larger, decentralized social network of sorts -- and one whose user base has grown in size in recent days as people flee Elon Musk's Twitter in search of new communities.
The ActivityPub protocol, its website explains, provides a client-to-server API for creating, updating, and deleting content as well as a federal server-to-server API for delivering notifications and subscribing to content. In practice, this means that Mastodon users can interact and follow users on other instances (independently run nodes), as well as with users on other social apps (like PeerTube), which also support the implementation of ActivityPub. It makes for a web of social networks where users can find and follow each other without having to set up new accounts on each new service. This is the opposite approach to today's "walled garden" social networks, where a post on one platform can't be viewed by those on others, unless you re-upload or repost the content directly or share a link to the other site where the content can be found.
Nice to add to the mix, but missed opportunity (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it's impressive that Tumbler is going to get on board with this open protocol and should help build out the world of open source social media.
However, like so much of the open source social media space, the problem is the time people are looking to switch from Twitter is right now, by the time an effort like what Tumblr is proposing is complete (January?) everyone will have gotten used to Twitter continuing to work and grow, and realize that the worst fears about Twitter are unfounded as they do in fact continue to moderate content and the platform stays up.
Indeed the time for the world of Mastodon seems already kind of past as people I saw on Twitter that had tried dropped it in a hurry (as I did when I tried it some years ago).
The latest fad seems to be to make accounts on Hive... but that platform too missed a major opportunity by not having a desktop client, and the mobile apps seem pretty shaky.
Within a month most people will just stop using Twitter alternatives and sink back into the warm comfort of Twitter...
Still after Tumblr completes integration I may check it out, though the world of Mastodon sounds a lot more shaky and capricious in terms of moderation [cjr.org].
You're only thinking about Twitter (Score:2, Insightful)
Go to a Google search for Adpocalypse. Every YouTuber knows what it is. A handful of white supremacists managed to get regular advertisements in front of the
I am thinking about it as a business, longer term (Score:3, Insightful)
as a website and not as a business. Advertisers are fleeing Twitter.
Even if there are a lot of advertisers fleeing Twitter, plenty still remain (I see ads all the time) - how would you say it compares with the advertisers Mastodon and Tumblr have - combined?
The fact is Twitter is still way more mainstream and even if some advertisers leave, just like the flighty Twitter users looking at other options they will be back, once they discover as I said that in fact Twitter is actually moderating people and posts
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Even if there are a lot of advertisers fleeing Twitter, plenty still remain
Reports suggest that ad revenue is way down, and advertisers report that conversion rates are down too.
what happens when all kinds of people currently producing videos on YouTube start also publishing on Twitter when it supports longer form video, and better monetization rates than YouTube?
Probably very little. YouTube is not just a commodity video hosting platform. For a start almost every device can play YouTube videos, where as most TVs and STBs lack a Twitter client. It's also unlikely that Twitter will have better monetization rates, since Twitter doesn't have its own cloud infrastructure to serve that video up and will either have to build it or rent it, doubtless at greater cost than
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Furthermore Tesla is facing real competition for the first time ever and NASA is signaling they're going to get back into the rocket business.
Musk appears to be a terrible businessman who lucked into a couple of
The problem with that tweet (Score:2)
The big advertisers with the big bucks are leaving. Twitter can't sustain itself on penis pills and your Uncle Phil's local plumbing business.
Nobody was talking about Twitter dying until musk started killing it. We expected layouts to cover the debt. He saddled them with a billion dollars a year in debt payments and that's before the other 12 billi
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is that Trump was telling his supporters he was going to be at the inauguration so that it would be safe for them to attack it. It's called a dog whistle.
how can anyone seriously twist those words to mean what you want to imply they mean
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Advertisers are fleeing Twitter.
No, they aren't. Advertising are, for the most part, taking a "wait and see" approach to Twitter, and the reasons have pretty much nothing to do with "extremism" or whatever brainworms you're talking about.
They're holding campaigns primarily due to the turnover inside of Twitter. Since it turns out that Twitter employees would rather quit than, you know, do real work, a lot of the existing contacts advertising companies had in the company are gone. So they're waiting for things to stabilize.
They're advertis
Re:You're only thinking about Twitter (Score:5, Insightful)
No, they aren't. Advertising are, for the most part, taking a "wait and see" approach to Twitter, and the reasons have pretty much nothing to do with "extremism" or whatever brainworms you're talking about.
Yes, companies are pausing ad buying [newsweek.com] on Twitter, and Musk is having a meltdown [businessinsider.com] over it. He claims Twitter may have to file bankruptcy [npr.org] they're bleeding so much cash with the revenue stream drying up.
And yes, it is directly related to the lies [vanityfair.com] (i.e. misinfomration), extremist, and hate speech [thehill.com] which now permeates Twittter since Musk took over. They don't want their baby food ad associate with a comment calling for killing Jews.
And it's not just companies. High profile people [newsweek.com] are leaving Twitter and their "followers" are following them. That's another hit to the company who now doesn't get those eyeballs.
They're waiting for things to stabilize, and that's it. Every indication is that they will: Twitter has been running just fine without the woke-squad at the helm, usage is up, not down, and users are mostly staying on the platform.
And by "woke squad" (whatever the hell that is) you mean people making sure kidde porn doesn't pop up on someone's screen, or beating down the white supremacists who are no doubt cheering the killing of U.S. citizens by some white guy, or trying to keep things civil. Because who in the world would want that?
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Just for the record, there was an article on the WaPost (I believe...well, one of those) that reported what's-his-name used the same language with his other companies when they were looking like they wouldn't succeed. And he used the same tactics that caused their organizations to be hell to work in. He was able to grow his other companies' "atmosphere", now he's trying to change a company's atmosphere. My guess is that he'll have to hire in new to get that.
And without the "woke" squad, those advertisers ar
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It reminds me of when everyone left Reddit and went to Voat. If I remember correctly, Reddit never recovered.
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That's an interesting intuitive point. I think both were a case where the vast majority of people don't care either way, and it's just a noisy minority that left.
Re:Nice to add to the mix, but missed opportunity (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, the time to switch from Twitter was back when the financial offer was initially tendered.
Right now, all we're seeing is copious amounts of tokenized outrage, tokenized "leaving", tokenized "everything"
Like the idiots screaming about leaving the US and going to Canada.
It's entirely performative. Primarily because it's more emotionally satisfying to create a vision of "principled" opposition and ACTUALLY not follow through.
Especially for an insane platform like Mastodon.
Christ, what a totally appropriate idea.
Conservatives acquire a platform.
Killing it doesn't work.
So they pretend they're going to "escape" to another platform...represented by AN ANTEDILUVIAN ELEPHANT.
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To be fair to Donald Trump he hasn't posted on Twitter since his account was unlocked. Probably has more to do with not wanting to admit Truth Social is a disaster, or having to thank Elon Musk.
Anyway, Mastodon seems to work fine to me. There is a bit of a learning curve but that's true with Twitter too.
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> Like the idiots screaming about leaving the US and going to Canada.
It's a lot easier to leave Twitter than it is to go to Canada. You can't just waltz into Canada, especially if you're over 40.
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Yet a lot of the performative "I'm leaving crowd" mysteriously...aren't leaving.
Remember Neil Young and Spottify?
Same shit, bigger bucket.
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####
I think it's impressive that Tumbler is going to get on board with this open protocol and should help build out the world of open source social media.
However, like so much of the open source social media space, the problem is the time people are looking to switch from myspace is right now, by the time an effort like what Tumblr is proposing is complete (January?) everyone will have gotten used to myspace continuing to work and grow, and realize that the worst fears about myspace are unfounded as they do
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You Musk fanbois are so obsessed with licking
You seem to have forgotten why we are even talking about Mastodon/Tumblr to begin with. I am the one actually talking about the big picture. If anyone is licking Musk it's you, I'm talking about Twitter and you are talking about Musk... you are the one doing all the sucking here man, in all respects.
I am not musk fanboy, just shedding light on the social media space as a whole that appears to be sorely needed given how ill-informed you and others are.
Tumblr is
Re: Nice to add to the mix, but missed opportunity (Score:2)
Tumblr has been running since 2007, I donâ(TM)t think anyone newly interested in using Tumblr today will refrain from joining until it supports ActivityPub, and therefore stay on Twitter, which also doesnâ(TM)t support ActivityPub.
Quite the opposite, this promise reassures any Twitter refugees who find Tumblr more appealing than Mastodon, that they can start using Tumblr today, and eventually theyâ(TM)ll be also be able to connect with the others who went to Mastodon instead.
I am one of those
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(I don't know why Slashdot's mobile site couldn't handle my phone's punctuation. reposting, fixed.)
Tumblr has been running since 2007, I don't think anyone newly interested in using Tumblr today will refrain from joining until it supports ActivityPub, and therefore stay on Twitter, which also doesn't support ActivityPub.
Quite the opposite, this promise reassures any Twitter refugees who find Tumblr more appealing than Mastodon, that they can start using Tumblr today, and eventually they'll be also be able t
No-one wants to wait (Score:1)
I don't think anyone newly interested in using Tumblr today will refrain from joining until it supports ActivityPub,
I don't know if you have seen many internet users, but very very few of them are willing to wait for anything.
I see a ton of Twitter users trying to move off, then grumbling about Mastodon UI. I see people moving to Hive, then saying well it has no desktop browser so I am out.
What I have not yet seen a single Twitter user say is "I'm heading to Tumblr"! They'll try using Instagram before tha
Yikes. (Score:1)
If it does manage to talk ActivityPub, it'll be the fastest instance to ever get defederated. You don't have to scratch the surface very hard to find nazis everywhere.
I was wondering about that... (Score:3)
If it does manage to talk ActivityPub, it'll be the fastest instance to ever get defederated.
Since moderation on Mastodon happens at a federation level, I was really curious how such a general site like Tumblr could mesh with a system like that without as you say, being blocked from many servers.
I wish Mastodon had a way individuals could override a server ban, maybe just have a server ban be a default it would take some work to overcome. But I'm sure the way Mastodon is now, is probably pretty set in ston
Good intention but won’t (Score:2)
Twitter will continue... (Score:3)
I have to agree with the commenters who say: Twitter is going to continue, with no problem. The current uproar will be old news in a couple of months. As long as users still see their celebrity tweets, and can emit their own thoughts into the ether, there's no real reason to change. And Mastodon is not simple for Joe and Suzy Sixpack to understand: they won't understand the Fediverse, and won't know how to find a server that supports their internet bubble's view of the world.
It's going to be the same for advertisers. Sure, some have withdrawn, but they're just playing "wait-and-see". One they see that the users are still there, the advertisers will be back.
The only potential risk: Musk has cleaned house viciously. There never was any reason to have 7500 people scattered across 20+ different countries. Staff more than doubled from 2017 to 2021 - that was nuts. However, cutting staff so quickly does risk that some critical positions will be temporarily unfilled. If there is any sort of major outage in the next few weeks, it may be difficult to recover from. If Twitter is still running smoothly in 2-3 months, that danger will be over.
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Those advertisers have lost their Twitter contacts, sometimes multiple times. 2FA is hit-or-miss right now, and people are randomly losing (or gaining) a significant number of followers. It's like they are trying to restore some stuff from backups but breaking other things during the process.
Mastodon is too complicated, I agree. If they do succeed, it will be because everyone congregates on a single server and leaving the fediverse largely unused.
I'm sure that they can keep things running for a while, bu
Tumblr + ActivityPub = Good (Score:2)
Twitter, privately-owned by billionaire Elon Musk, (aka Elmo Sunk), is a bad thing and odds are Twitter won't last much longer [twitter.com].)
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It's doubly-good because when Tumblr closed down its "alt" boards, there was a "we're all going to Twitter" movement (this is well-documented). Much of the craziness on Twitter then ensued (that and Trump shenanigans).
Musk just banned the hashtags used by known child-traffickers (for years) and reporting child abuse just surfaced from (I am told) 6-7 clicks to 1-2 clicks in the reporting system. He gets kudos for that, which 99% of society would agree with.
Going back to Tumblr would be best for everybody