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Tumblr’s ‘fediverse’ integration is still being worked on, says owner and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg

Tumblr's 'fediverse' integration is still being worked on, says owner and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg | TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/11/tumblrs-fediverse-integration-is-still-being-worked-on-says-owner-and-automattic-ceo-matt-mullenweg/

Despite delays, the plan to connect Tumblr's blogging site to the wider world of decentralized social media, also known as the "fediverse," is still on,

Tumblr's 'fediverse' integration is still being worked on, says owner and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg | TechCrunch

26 comments

otter

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This is something that should take time so that it is done correctly. It would be much harder to get people on board if you had to fix things after launching.

I assume it's even harder to move an existing product to the Fediverse than it is to create a new platform from scratch

sabreW4K3

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But they're not moving people to the fediverse, they're basically rolling out the same plugin integration that is available for WordPress already and the only reason they're even attempting that is because they've not given up on monetizing Tumblr and in order to do that, they have to garner more traffic of which they feel that Tumblr can get with the rising tide of primarily Mastodon.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, people should move their Tumblr accounts to FireFish.

timconspicuous

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I have big sympathies for FireFish, but I feel like the target audiences so far are very different. Maybe call it the network effect, but it's difficult for me to imagine a tumblr user who maybe is used to blogging about their SuperWhoLock fandoms moving to FireFish where there probably is no big audience for that. At the same time I would want to see these users and their niches in the Fediverse.

There is a very particular culture that is unique to tumblr which I don't see moving somewhere else.

sabreW4K3

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That's fair, but the reality is that Tumblr has been dancing on a knife's edge for a long long time. A community lead and funded effort like FireFish would provide the platform security needed for it to survive. But there's no two ways about it, it won't just happen magically. That said, TumblFish.social could truly be huge and propel FireFish to even surpass Lemmy in terms of users.

yessikg

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I enjoy FireFish but it's too much like Twitter to replace Tumblr, somebody is working on a fediverse version of Tumblr tho

TeaHands

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I have a really out of the loop question that will probably make me sound like a troll, but really I'm just old and out of the loop:

What exactly are the unique features of Tumblr? as far as I recall it was just a blogging site with support for specific post formats, right? Did it get more complicated than that?

yessikg

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Basically, the main feature that's missing is that reblogging works the same way as replying does on lemmy except it's expanded by default. So a lot of Tumblr culture is basically 'Yes And' improv.

sabreW4K3

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Is there anywhere I can follow along with development?

yessikg

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I think they have an official blog?

yessikg

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They are on Mastodon: @Swanye@fosstodon.org

sabreW4K3

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Thank you

conno02

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use CoHost :)

Blaze

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FireFish

IceShrimp!

kingaloo

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EarthCrab

MelodiousFunk

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AirBirb

Kierunkowy74

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You're (@kingaloo and @MelodiousFunk) probably mocking all the FireFish variations, but IceShrimp as another Misskey fork already exists. :)

(And so will be EarthCrab and AirBirb /s)

MelodiousFunk

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Oh, no mockery intended on my part. I was just trying to make sure all of the elements got equal representation.

skullgiver

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Blaze

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Definitely. It's still nice that they consider it, Tumblr is a big name, even if less popular today than a few years ago

skullgiver

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TheOneCurly

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Here's my guess.

Tumblr users as a demographic are closer to fedi users than the Facebook/Instagram masses.
There just aren't that many Tumblr users anymore, at least compared to the overwhelming horde that is Threads. The threat of diluting the culture is just a lot lower.

Caesium

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imo Tumblr has always been the 'weird kid' of social media. in the past it definitely stuck out as unique and nowadays even though they've tried to act more like xitter and Instagram or whatever the users tend to be vehemently against the changes

Laticauda

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Saying Tumblr is corporate in nature is like saying the lord of the flies Island was democratic. If they so much as changes a rounded corner to be sharp or vice versa the entire site throws a shit fit.

projectmoon

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WordPress is open source, for one.

kevincox

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I would say yes? They make Wordpress which is pretty open and usable by default and it is properly opensource. Since taking over Tumblr they seem to have been making reasonable improvements and in general trying to keep it open.

In general they have been favourable to open source and open standards. So when they say they are adopting an additional open standard I have high hopes.

But FWIW I also think that Threads joining the fediverse is likely a good thing. It is true that it may allow many people to be more comfortable on a user-hostile platform, but IMHO that is their right. I think the biggest concern is that if Threads or a small number of large platforms are the majority of users they can add proprietary extensions but I don't think the biggest issue. The biggest strength is making the fediverse more popular, and allowing more people to pick more open options without needing to ditch or convince their friends upfront.

morrowind

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They don't make WordPress, they own WordPress.com. But they have generally been a pretty nice company

yessikg

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Those of us that are still using Tumblr are very against data collection and adds, Automattic has made some mistakes and us users are not very happy with them so they know they are on thin ice

autotldr

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

Despite delays, the plan to connect Tumblr’s blogging site to the wider world of decentralized social media, also known as the “fediverse,” is still on, it seems.

Over a year ago, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg — whose company acquired Tumblr from Verizon in 2019 — posted on Twitter that the site would “soon” add support for ActivityPub, the protocol powering Twitter/X rival Mastodon and other decentralized social apps.

But it also led many fediverse advocates to wonder if Tumblr’s plans to join the world of decentralized social media had also been scrapped.

Reading between the lines, it seems the company isn’t ready to place a full bet on ActivityPub — though Mullenweg generally supports a more open internet.

Though Mastodon today only has around 1.5 million monthly active users, ActivityPub is seeing more momentum as of late — especially now that Instagram Threads, another Twitter/X competitor, is pledging integration with the fediverse.

In another AMA response, Mullunweg also noted that a larger effort to migrate Tumblr’s half a billion blogs to WordPress on the backend is something he’s also contemplating in the new year.

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