I’ll be watching as Medium runs their own Mastodon instance. I like my approach better: integrating ActivityPub directly into the blog platform, not alongside it as a separate platform. But there’s no single right way to do this.

@manton
Thx for pointing to Medium. I am happy that they embrace Mastodon! That’s a good step forward!
I agree with you that integrating ActivityPub directly is better, let’s see how they develop the whole thing. I stay curious.

@manton I agree. I think your approach can provide a broader set of use cases in a much more integrated fashion. IMO, you have the potential to create the best “Mastoson” (really, Fediverse) experience possible. Read, write, interact, discover.

If I were you I’d lean into the success and growth of Mastodon and try and make ActivityPub a central focus!

@manton I do wish there were some way I could use mastodon with my micro.blog address.

I know I can already use micro.blog as a mastodon reader–but tbh it’s not great for that. A screwdriver doesn’t make a great hammer.

I’d also like to boost and favorite mastodon posts. I guess the boosts would have to be visible on mastodon but not on micro.blog or on my blog? I haven’t thought this through to the end.

One way to accomplish this might be to stand up a mastodon instance that folks could use by logging in with their micro.blog address.

I’m pretty sure this is not a priority for you, and I’m OK with that.

@manton How do you use Mastodon?

I see your micro.blog posts on mastodon, but do you also have a mastodon account on another instance that you use to read, reply, and boost? Do you syndicate your posts from here to that mastodon instance?

I’m trying to find the most effective ways of using micro.blog in conjunction with Mastodon, and it occurs to me that I should ask the guy who runs micro.blog and who is (I think) also active on Mastodon.

@MitchW The only method I’ve discovered for Boost is to co-exist inside a Mastodon instance.

@topgold What do you mean? Apologies, but I don’t understand what you’re saying there.

@MitchW I let Micro.blog manage my Mastodon-compatible name, so that folks on Mastodon can read my blog posts. I get replies sometimes from Mastodon and I reply back via Micro.blog. I don’t use any actual Mastodon instances except for testing.

@MitchW If you want to boost, using a real Mastodon account is the way to go, optionally with cross-posting from Micro.blog. We don’t plan to ever add boosting to Micro.blog. I want to make Micro.blog compatible with as many open standards and platforms as possible, but without changing what makes it unique, and no boosts / no likes is part of that.

@manton Thanks. Since I started using Mastodon regularly in November, I’ve been on-and-off with cross-posting to Mastodon. As of this morning, I’m on. I don’t get a lot of interaction on Mastodon, and this way I can keep a toehold there, and also use masto to read, reply, and boost. I think I’ll possibly subscribe to a few masto accounts from micro.blog as well.

@manton how did you put a link on text in a Toot!?

@ivanruiz I use Micro.blog for my posts, and it can create inline links from Markdown.

@MitchW for my part - anyone on Mastodon who follows @microblog sees what I do here … there … BUT my ‘real account’ for the moment is @fractals - which follows the microblog account and pushes out those posts WHEN I want something to go out - specifically not autmatic.

@manton so I would have my own Mastondon account, subscribe to my “Mastodon-compatible” account from MB. The,m from Mastodon, I could selectively boost my syndicated posts to my followers, there? Am I understanding it correctly?

@manton That IA art is creepy as F, though, but I guess they couldn’t afford an illustrator, and if they can, their taste in art needs refinement.

@numericcitizen That’s one way to do it, yep!

@JohnPhilpin How do you handle the cross-posting? Is it handled in some programmatic fashion when you post to john.philbin.com, or do you share by cut-and-paste to @fractals after you’ve posted to john.philbin.com?

@MitchW basically as i write here - the microblog account mirrors on mastodon. when i go to mastodon with my ‘real’ mastodon account - I scroll through my MB mirror account and reply / boost things that seem right for that space … i will pop over there now for an example.

@JohnPhilpin I think that’s the way I’m going to do it, at least for now. The fediverse and micro.blog are evolving–whatever I do now is likely to be different in six months.

@MitchW hope my examples make sense?

@numericcitizen ha … well I’m over on ‘.social” because I signed up a long time ago before there was too much choice … I have thought about moving … but to where? So I remain until there is a reason to go.

@MitchW yup … which is why I haven’t merged … for me, MicroBlog is primarily a blogging platform … nice social .. but not my prime driver - on social … like Mastodon … it’s engagement … that’s why I keep separate.

@JohnPhilpin my understanding is that many people had Mastodon account well before Elun M bought Twitter and broke it down… now those people take advantage of what is now their Plan B.

@MitchW I can’t boost from microblog so I have a Mastodon account where boost works.