 🚨BREAKING NEWS!🚨 Automattic, the company behind WordPress, is now co-authoring the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress. The intent is to make WordPress a "first party Fediverse member" on par with Mastodon, Pleroma, and Pixelfed. WordPress already powers 43% of all websites—and every one is a potential Fediverse server. Automattic employee @kraft just confirmed this. 182 comments
@deadsuperhero @kraft @fediversenews Me too. I never would have predicted any of this a year ago. Things are moving quickly!  @atomicpoet @deadsuperhero @kraft @fediversenews It's so good, right? Like a pipeline opened...? Plus brand enhancement via 3rd party endorsement via formal alliance, is that right? I'm only just learning how the fediverse works - any tips? Wise in years but new to this stuff! 🧜  @atomicpoet Err, was this not announced in December? 🧐 I could have sworn it was... @gersande @atomicpoet Automattic becoming a coauthor just happened a couple of days ago, but there has been a lot of various moving parts of WordPress+Fediverse. I'm sure there was something announced in December too! @gersande Tumblr integration with ActivityPub was announced, and Automattic also owns Tumblr. But I believe that news broke last November.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews excellent news! Now we just need Mastodon to be more generous in rendering Article types than just putting a title and link ;-)  @oblomov @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Agree. I'd like to see some kind of Fediverse specific information rendering tags like Open Graph or Twitter Cards. @oblomov @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews I think this will be solved with the release of native #formatting. Authors ca. Then, style their articles, comments, and blogs to their own style. If you want to check this out for yourself, take a look at the ActivityPub plugin page. Automattic is now listed as the author. https://wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub/ See screenshots. Honestly, I think Automattic co-authoring the ActivityPub plugin is a bigger deal than Meta "planning" to join the Fediverse. The ActivityPub plugin for WordPress already works right now. But now Automattic is putting more weight behind it! Drupal also has an ActivityPub plugin. However, others tell me it's not as mature as the one for WordPress. With all the traction that ActivityPub has, though, I can see that changing.  @atomicpoet yep. I'm just glad they beat Meta to whatever dumb crap they're planning to do. How a huge company like Meta could make a decentralized ANYTHING is kinda beyond me 🙄  @jake4480 @atomicpoet I think the plan is just to swamp Mastodon and make Meta the default. I’ll block any server related to Meta. Any Meta server should be defederated IMO.  @atomicpoet it's definitely huge! I knew about this plugin and have played with it in the past, but was disappointed. It was some time ago tho. Hopefully the full force of Automatic means it will mature quickly.  @atomicpoet that's indeed huge and quite a boost for @pfefferle
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  @atomicpoet although I truly don't understand this - it sounds like a very cool development. Maybe we will get back to the idea of decentralized social media - somewhere I remember hearing/reading about the notion that the human cortex is only wired to truly be able to manage 250 close personal connections. If that is true - this makes more and more sense, conversations with a small group of people. @lacouvee Let's put it this way, Janis. Every WordPress blog can potentially be subscribed and read directly through Mastodon. You can comment directly to that blog through Mastodon. And whoever is using that WordPress blog can reply back to you. Better yet, someone can read your Mastodon posts on WordPress. Is that blowing your mind yet?  @atomicpoet @lacouvee What service that supports ActivityPub but not Mastodon can I follow right now from a Mastodon client? I don’t know if I’ve done this yet. I’m still new to it. @brennansv @lacouvee A good example is @fediversenews, which is a Friendica group. It was tagged at the beginning of this thread. Another example is blender_reels@video.blender.org, which is an account on a PeerTube server. You can follow that account and watch videos that it posts. @atomicpoet I’m following @fediversenews already. That’s cool. That’s a good example of what ActivityPub can do. I think micro servers that just publish would be very useful, like public transit and severe weather updates. I could follow relevant zip codes. I’d like to run such services which consume public data and share on ActivityPub. @brennansv That's right. Microblogging is just one application for ActivityPub. The potential is huge! The beautiful thing about this protocol is that most things that it's capable of doing hasn't been made yet 🙂  @brennansv @atomicpoet @fediversenews With regards to public transits, you can check out this project: https://social.ridetrans.it/@kona/109877326154945041   @brennansv @atomicpoet @lacouvee you can follow @pixelfed accounts (photo sharing) and comment photos from Mastodon @brennansv absolutely. If you're in Mastodon click on this hashtag #CatsOfPixelfed @brennansv you can use the search box to paste link to profiles or posts from any Fediverse systems. Try with this one https://pixelfed.social/p/donelias/513411230300918790 @brennansv @atomicpoet @lacouvee I've been running the ActivityPub plugin on my WP site for a couple of months, you can follow @ryan to see how it looks (unless you are a teacher or involved in the Edtech space you'll probably not want to follow for long, lol!) My only issue is that sometimes when I post on WP the load skyrockets on my blog. I have't looked into why that's happening yet. @goz I believe the spike in load is due to all the servers getting pushes and then pulling data from your server. There needs to be some kind of CDN or cache that ActivityPub can use to smooth that out. But that could be the flaw. How would that be funded? @atomicpoet @lacouvee @ryan @brennansv @atomicpoet @lacouvee @ryan That makes sense, but it seems like a huge load for only 33 followers. It's not enough to make me not want to use the plugin though. 😁 @atomicpoet @lacouvee 99% of my client's sites are proprietary installs on their own host. I'm hoping the integration will be just as easy there. @atomicpoet Thank you for the explanation. Will that also be available for free WP-Blogs? And if yes, I will have to see if I can manage that - WP used to be what I could just so deal with, the newer things sometimes are a bit above me.  @atomicpoet both .com and self-hosted? In that case yes, blowing my mind, most definitely. Look out Substack!  @lacouvee @atomicpoet If you want to see at least part of what ActivityPub for Wordpress means you can see it on my two blogs right now. Their Fediverse addresses are: @chris @atomicpoet @chrisale@www.alberniweather.ca @chrisale@chrisalemany.ca thanks Chris - I have not been very active on my blog/website since leaving Victoria where I many wrote about the arts scene. As a writer/poet, I have to find a way to create relevant content without "publishing" my poems/essays since I can't then submit them to journals and magazines. This is a very cool feature though. @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Pretty wild! About 70% of my clients are on WordPress. WordPress has always been like an athlete that moves up to the head of the pack slowly, and everyone is like. "Look at that guy, what's his name again?" 😅 As a side note, Yoast, the SEO plugin for WordPress now has a Mastodon Specific site verification option that can be unlocked by buying a license.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews This is great news. Credits and Congrats to @pfefferle and all contributors cause people make software not companies :) PS: Nice podcast episode together with Matthias unfortunately in German @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews that would be a deal breaker for the whole fediverse! Really bright future for decentralised internet @atomicpoet hopefully they’ll include the plugin on Wordpress.com installs at all levels too.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Perhaps it's time to wake my #Wordpress blog from its cryogenic sleep. It's a whole new world.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews oh god what if all comment sections become activityPub-enabled 🤢  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews they simply need it to enable you to choose the account it uses simply (and change it) and make it a 2-way street and voila. Would make WP a decent choice again for many @atomicpoet What are the implications of this? As a newby to all this issues I don't know and don't read anything specific in your toot @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews this feels like a big deal and I hope #Drupal can further efforts in this direction, too. Maybe it should even be a strategic initiative to see something like this in core?  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews @onepict This is very good news, as the plug-in is severely limited in what it offers at the moment Looking forward to a much wider audience of people being able to interact with my blog posts  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews WordPress is also a basket case of malware and security breaches so I'm not all on board with the view that this is great news. We really do need to talk more about getting rid of servers.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Also means that Tumblr might join some day, like as part of the paid offering.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Sounds like fun. #Mastodon is already using #ActivityPub differently from the standard texts and other server software. Another dominating system will gift us more entertaining drama! 😜 @Stefan_S_from_H @atomicpoet @fediversenews I think the direction is akin to WP adopting RSS way back. The point isn't to twist the spec; it is to join the broader ecosystem. @kraft @atomicpoet #ActivityPub has more room for interpretation than #rss. There will be differences, even if unintended. #Mastodon is using "like" as a favorite, ignoring "dislike", and "summary" as a content warning. Is #WordPress going into the direction of universal #Fediverse or using the Mastodon interpretation of ActivityPub? This is worse than Outlook for email and news. @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews my opinion only, I’m glad WordPress is jumping in first. Meta likes secrets/non-sharing, and we want to adapt/improve, so sharing is a requirement. I believe WP can and will do this. At least at base levels, but where to go from there is adjusted by requirements anyway. Jumpstarts what we need started, & Meta can then “Tag” along. Maybe even share once they get updates right . @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews I can see this being very powerful, being able to comment on any Wordpress blog without creating an account on sketchy services. @pim @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews It makes your Fediverse handle more useful outside specific projects and instances. Feels like ActivityPub will become THE social media protocol of the internet.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews @charles_ex EXIM postfix vs Gmail @aloa5 @stefanieschulte  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews @nikosdion created a plug-in for Mastodon feed for Joomla last fall. @alison @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Already written the code to share articles on the Fediverse. Some documentation needed still before release. The moment the plugin won't show the login-name, I will activate it! That is the final showstopper. @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews @simonwood Presumably this might get some leverage for the 47 bazillion Wordpress hosting services to update their security settings so that the ActivityPub plug-in can work. @atomicpoet @fediversenews 'Cuz I already have a wordpress blog, and I'm - get this - not restricted to 500 characters there! @kelvin0mql @atomicpoet @fediversenews Yeah, but wordpress is like a duck in a barrel for the hacker folk @KI5SMN And we don't know much about the security knowledge of various people hosting various Mastodon instances, either. I'm sure there are ignorant, insecure ways to do that, too. Oh no doubt masto could be poorly hosted; anything can. Some targets are juicier than others, though. @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews @atomicpoet @kraft @funhouseradio The ActivityPub Plugin for Wordpress does exist. So it is already happening. You can belive it.
 @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Guess I better check for updates on my website that I've unfortunately been neglecting. I have activitypub on it... just haven't been blogging much.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Can you explain to us dummies what is the practical use of this?  @sharan @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews We'll have too see what their definition of first class citizen is, but it could mean Please correct me if I'm wrong.  @atomicpoet @kraft hell yes. my favourite wp plugin #ActivityPub just made a loud boom going subsonic 🤘  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews good news, although I had some deal-breaking tech issues trying to implement this plugin last year. See: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/webfinger-endpoint-unavailable/#post-16217114 @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Overall this should be good for both the growth of the #Fediverse and #Mastodon @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews what does this mean actually? If I have a WordPress site, what will the ActivityPub plugin allow my site to do?   @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews oh cool. I tried to use the current version of plugin but was all kinds of broken for me. Maybe official one would work.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews what does this plugin do exactly? That's not so clear from the description.    @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews I will be pleased and impressed if activity pub becomes a rival to private social media, a bit like Libre Office to everyone else’s Word/Pages.  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews This makes following blogs easier (not that RSS was difficult) and gives blogs a low maintenance comment system.  @fediversenews @atomicpoet @kraft the tricky parts will be handling non-public (followers-only and direct), and the streams of status if Following is implemented, those are the “square pegs”!  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Automattic also owns Tumblr. so...more fediverse!@@  @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews While, yes, a significant amount of the financial and development contribution to WordPress comes from Automattic, the WordPress Foundation are technically the main designated organisation behind WordPress, as a protection from private orgs like Automattic. While I have always hated WordPress.com, Automattic's hosting, I do have to agree that WordPress might not be the same without them and do amazing work keeping WordPress itself good. @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews I remember when a person I wanted to hire in 2010, thought Wordpress was only for blogging and laughed in my face when I asked his experience in it. He wasn't hired.   @atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews Nice! It means I can shut down my cronjob reading the wordpress RSS feed and posting to mastodon https://steinar.bang.priv.no/2020/06/27/join-mastodon-and-slowly-posting-a-wordpress-rss-atom-feed/  |
Gregory's Server
@atomicpoet @kraft @fediversenews This is seriously blowing my mind.