Last year the CEO of Automattic promised that Tumblr would embrace ActivityPub & thus join the Fediverse.
Unfortunately it seems as if Tumblrโs embrace is proving to be more challenging than they previously imagined, with Fediverse implementation scheduled sometime this year.
So with no clear timetable of when Tumblr will embrace the Fediverse, others (including myself) were hoping that Medium would embrace the Fediverse.
Sadly Medium declined to join the Fediverse, although they did offer a consolation prize by launching a Mastodon instance for prestigious Medium writers.
Fortunately there is a viable social blogging option available right now who fully embraces ActivityPub (& no, WordPress & MicroBlog do not count).
Itโs Time to Misskey
From the outside Misskey appears to be yet another Fediverse Microblogging service who mimics the best of Twitter & while attempting to omit the worst aspects of the blue bird site.
However, what separates the cat obsessed (yes, really!) social network from rivals is itโs powerful customization & content features that would appeal to Tumblr & Medium fans alike.
I will briefly mention a few of these awesome features below, as there are way too many to mention in one post (as I am still discovering more every day if not every week).
Get Down For Markdown
Aside from supporting โ@ mentionsโ & hashtags, Misskey allows rich text formats via Misskey Flavored Markdown (also known as MFM), which include the basics such as bold, linked texted, etcetera.
However, if folks visit their local MFM cheatsheet, they will be amazed to discover that Misskey also supports:
- Quotes (sometimes called block quotes)
- Minimizing or maximizing texts
- Center aligning text
- In-line syntax (great for programmers highlighting code)
- Text flipping or even posting upside down
- Different types of fonts
- Minimizing or maximizing the size of emojis
- Blurring out text (great for hiding specific spoilers!)
- Plus many more!
Misskey allows people to creatively display their text & emojis to the world, which will appeal to content creators & artists alike.
Note: some of these text formats are not supported by Mastodon so followers using those apps will miss out on the fun (or chaos ๐, depending on your view).
Powerful Page Support
Although this might not appeal to everyone in the Socialverse, Tumblr & Medium fans will be excited to know that their Misskey instance will support as many pages as they need.
Misskey Pages are a feature where you can create custom web pages. In them you can include different types of media and formatting. and even run programming scripts. Like with many other areas of Misskey, you can format your content using MFM.
Pages in Misskey are composed of different types of Blocks, and the blocks can be moved around using drag-and-drop. (Via Misskey Hub)
Pages is a feature I wish every social network provided, as sometimes you want to expand on what your instance is about, or list rules or even highlight something outside of a post that people can easily find.
Custom Curated Timelines
One of the things I love about the Fediverse is that there are so many incredible people to follow. Unfortunately you can easily be overwhelmed, & miss out on some great content.
Instead of giving up on finding your content or secretly wishing someone would create an algorithm (something big tech would be willing to do for the price of your privacy), Misskey solves this issue by allowing you to create Antennas.
Antenna is a feature that allows you to freely set conditions for a custom timeline and automatically collect matching notes.
Antenna conditions can include conditions to include/exclude certain keywords and tags in different combinations as well as other options. When a note matching an antenna's conditions is posted, the note will automatically be added to that antenna's timeline.
To create an antenna, click โAddโ in the Manage antennas page. Then fill in the options to customize your antenna. (Via Misskey Hub)
This solves a huge problem when it comes to filtering out content that you want to see, & I am already starting to follow Mastodon, Misskey, Pixelfed, Pleroma & Calckey accounts on my solo Misskey instance (@darnell@darnell.moe).
I plan on creating numerous antennas to help follow people posting about the topics I love (ranging from sports, technology, fediverse, culture, geopolitics, humor, space, science, etcetera), & I believe overtime I will be using Misskey more than I use Mastodon.
Optional Adsโฝ
I know what you are thinking, โUggghhhh Ads!!!โ Yes, I feel the same way too. In fact, I rather pay to avoid seeing any ads, as I feel they distract from the overall experience.
Some publishers on Tumblr & Medium use ads to put food on their table, & if their Misskey instances begins to see millions of views then they will quickly need to figure out a way for an instance to pay for itself.
However, instead of trying to insert a Google Ad Words snippet of code, Misskey admins can simply use ad affiliate links or just use links to corporate sponsors (the latter is how Mastodon pays for servers & software development) to help keep the lights on.
There is so much more to Misskey that people will find useful! For example:
One More Thing
What got me hooked on Misskey was the fact that Rin Nakashima, also known as @fruitriin@misskey.io (a phenomenal developer) created an amazing iPhone, iPad & Android app for Misskey called MissRirica.
Unlike prior Misskey apps (or even ones that have showed up afterwards), MissRirica is a fully functional Misskey app that implements nearly all (I suspect all but I am not sure) of the powerful Misskey tools & options featured on the platform.
It is an S-tier third party social networking app that puts most social networking apps (both official & unofficial apps) to shame due to itโs raw power. I would gladly pay $10 USD per month ๐ต to use the app, but Nakashima is kind enough to make the app available for free.
In lieu of an in app payment, please support her efforts via patreon or Ko-Fi (note: I suggest the $8 per month tier on Patreon, but hopefully she offers a higher tier in the future).
Also if you can please feel free to support the creator of Misskey, @syuilo@misskey.io who devotes her free time to making Misskey an S-tier social networking site (& I am not saying that lightly).
Addendum: Managed Hosting
If you lack the time or technical skills to create a Misskey instance, then I suggest using a managed hosting service in which a company handles installing the software, upgrades, security, etcetera.
I use @12vpx@social.12vpx.com who offers managed Misskey hosting & they have done a phenomenal job in ensuring my instance is properly updated to the latest version as well as handling any issues that might rise up (no, they did not pay me to type this but they are just that awesome!). A special shoutout to @neil@social.12vpx.com for setting up my Misskey instance & ensuring it is properly upgraded!
๐จ๐พโ๐ป by Darnell Clayton ๐ @darnell@darnell.day
๐บ๐พ Follow my adventures upon:
๐๐พ @darnell@one.darnell.one ๐ (Mastodon)
๐๐พ @darnell@darnell.app ๐ธ (Pixelfed)
๐๐พ @darnell@darnell.moe ๐ฆ (Misskey)