In https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23689570/activitypub-protocol-standard-social-network, author @pierce@mas.to does an excellent job covering a broad range of #ActivityPub related updates, and goes beyond the usual #Mastodon focus to describe numerous implementations.
I was very happy to see that he also clearly communicated several #IndieWeb principles^1, practices, goals, and reasons why^2. Like this quote:
“But the advice you’ll hear from most people in this space is this: own your own domain. Don’t be john@/mastodon.social or anna@/facebook.com. Have a space that is yours, that belongs to you, a username and identity that can’t disappear just because a company goes out of business or sells to a megalomaniac.”
and this:
“It’s [your own domain is] your YouTube channel name and your TikTok username and your Instagram handle and your phone number and your Twitter @, all in one name.”
Great interviews with @stevetex@mozilla.social, @mike@flipboard.social, @dustycloud.org (@cwebber@octodon.social), @evanp.me (@evan@cosocial.ca), @anildash.com (@anildash@me.dm), @coachtony@me.dm, and @manton.org.
As Manton said in the article:
“If you solve identity with domain names, it makes things easier because it fits the way the web has been for 20 years,”
Pierce also noted:
“you might soon be able to turn your personal website into your entire social identity online”
Already can.
I replied to Pierce’s post^3 about his article noting this^4, from #federating directly from my website for the past ~6 months^5, to over a decade of using it as my social identity with the POSSE method^6 with various #socialMedia silos.
It’s important enough that I’ll repeat part of Pierce’s quote at the top:
“own your own domain. Don’t be john@/mastodon.social or anna@/facebook.com. Have a space that is yours”
He gets it. Don’t be someone at someone else’s server.
Big Chad or Little Chad’s garages^7 are social media stepping stones towards owning your own domain and IndieWeb presence.
We’re here when you’re ready to take that next step: https://chat.indieweb.org/
This is day 38 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb. #100Days
← Day 37: https://tantek.com/2023/109/t2/years-ago-first-federated-indieweb-thread
→ Day 39: https://tantek.com/2023/112/t2/account-migration-post-blog-archive-format
^1 https://indieweb.org/principles
^2 https://indieweb.org/why
^3 https://mas.to/@pierce/110231624819547202
^4 https://tantek.com/2023/110/t1/
^5 https://tantek.com/2022/301/t1/twittermigration-bridgyfed-mastodon-indieweb
^6 https://indieweb.org/POSSE
^7 https://tantek.com/2023/001/t1/own-your-notes
@pierce@mas.to nice broad coverage in https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23689570/activitypub-protocol-standard-social-network
Especially your #IndieWeb encouragements to:
“own your own domain”
“Have a space that is yours, that belongs to you, a username and identity that can’t disappear just because a company goes out of business or sells to a megalomaniac.”
As you pointed out, the “WordPress plug-in for ActivityPub” enables this today for people who use WordPress for their site.
One minor correction. You said:
“… you might soon be able to turn your personal website into your entire social identity online”
Always have been.
About six months ago I setup my personal website https://tantek.com/ as my #fediverse address @tantek.com^1. No need for a separate Mastodon account on someone else’s instance.^2
This transmission is coming to you^3 … from my personal website.
For 13+ years I’ve been using my site as my social identity^4, using POSSE (before we called it that) to syndicate & distribute my posts to Twitter*, eventually to Facebook*, Flickr, GitHub, and now #federating directly with #ActivityPub supporting servers & services.
*Until they (Facebook, Twitter) dropped or disabled API access, and I haven't posted there since.
As you said:
“It’s [your own domain is] your YouTube channel name and your TikTok username and your Instagram handle and your phone number and your Twitter @, all in one name”
https://tantek.com/contact is my “phone number”, it’s the 💬 on the top left on my home page.
The web is already “the underlying infrastructure of the social web”.
"your own domain" can already be “your identity for everything”.
Lots more on this at https://indieweb.org/
^1 https://tantek.com/2022/301/t1/twittermigration-bridgyfed-mastodon-indieweb
^2 https://tantek.com/2023/001/t1/own-your-notes
^3 https://youtu.be/ScJvQhWL7Lg?t=24
^4 https://tantek.com/2010/001/t1/declaring-independence-building-it
t