diff --git a/img/twitter2mastodon.png b/img/twitter2mastodon.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..121fc27 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/twitter2mastodon.png differ diff --git a/markdown/Create-a-Mastodon-bot-to-forward-Twitter-and-RSS-feeds-to-your-timeline.md b/markdown/Create-a-Mastodon-bot-to-forward-Twitter-and-RSS-feeds-to-your-timeline.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..419a592 --- /dev/null +++ b/markdown/Create-a-Mastodon-bot-to-forward-Twitter-and-RSS-feeds-to-your-timeline.md @@ -0,0 +1,171 @@ +[//]: # (title: Create a Mastodon bot to forward Twitter and RSS feeds to your timeline) +[//]: # (description: Take your favourite accounts and sources with you on the Fediverse, even if they aren't there) +[//]: # (image: /img/twitter2mastodon.png) +[//]: # (author: Fabio Manganiello ) +[//]: # (published: 2022-05-06) + +## The search for a social safe harbor + +My interest into the [Fediverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse) and +its ideas, protocols and products dates back to at least a decade. + +I've had an account on the [centralized Diaspora +instance](https://joindiaspora.com/) more or less since the service was spawned +in 2010 until it shut down some time last year. + +And I've been running a [Mastodon instance](https://social.platypush.tech) +mainly dedicated to Platypush for a while, although I haven't advertised it +much so far because I haven't been spending much time on it myself until +recently. + +However, my interest used to be quite sporadic until recently. Yes, I would +rant a lot about Facebook/Meta, about the irresponsibility and greediness +rooted deep in its culture, their very hostile and opaque approach against +external researchers and auditors and the deeply flawed thirst for further +centralization that motivates each of its decisions. And, whenever I got too +sick of Facebook, I would just move my social tents to Twitter. Which is far +from perfect, but it probably used to be the least poisonous between the two +necessary evils. + +That applies [until +recently](https://www.economist.com/business/2022/04/23/elon-musks-twitter-saga-is-capitalism-gone-rogue). + +I don't feel comfortable anymore sharing my thoughts and communications on a +platform owned by the richest man on earth, which also so happens to be a chief +troll with distorted ideas about the balance between freedom of speech and +responsibilities for one's words. + +So, just like [many other +users](https://uk.pcmag.com/social-media/140065/mastodon-gains-30000-new-users-after-musk-buys-twitter) +did after Musk's takeover, I also rushed (back) to the Fediverse as a safe and +uncompromising solution. But, unlike the majority of them, instead of rushing +to [mastodon.online](https://mastodon.online) (I don't like the idea of moving +from a centralized platform/instance to another), I rushed to upgrade and +prepare my dusty [social.platypush.tech](https://social.platypush.tech) +instance. + +## Give me back the old web + +The whole idea of a Fediverse is as old as Facebook and Twitter themselves. + +[identi.ca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identi.ca), launched in 2008, was +probably the first implementation of an open-source social network based on +[Activity Streams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activity_Streams_(format)), an +open syndacation format drafted by the W3C to represent entities, accounts, +media, posts and more across several social platforms. + +[GNU Social](https://gnusocial.network/) followed in 2009 (and it's still +active today), then +[Diaspora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(social_network)) in 2010 +brought the world of alternative open-source social networks into the spotlight +for a while. + +A lot of progress has happened since then. +[ActivityPub](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActivityPub), another open protocol +drafted by the W3C, has become a de facto standard when it comes to sharing +content across different instances and platforms. And tens of platforms +(including Mastodon itself, Pleroma, PeerTube, Pubcast, Hubzilla, NextCloud +Social, Friendica) currently support ActivityPub, making it possible for users +to follow, interact and share content regardless of where it is hosted. + +Anybody can install and run a public instance using one of these platforms, and +anybody on that instance can follow and interact with other users, even if they +are on other platforms. This is possible because the underlying protocols are +the same, no matter who runs the server or what server is run. + +In my opinion, this is the way social networks should have been implemented +from the very beginning. Anybody can run one, it's up to admins of instances to +decide which other instances they want to _federate_ with (therefore importing +traffic from other instances into a unique _federated_ timeline), and it's up +to individual users to decide who they want to follow and therefore be part of +their home timeline, regardless of who runs the servers where those accounts +are hosted. + +It's an idea that sits somewhere between email (you can exchange emails with +anyone as long as you have their email address, even if you have a `@gmail.com` +account and they have a `@hotmail.com` account, even if you use Thunderbird as +a client and they use a web app) and RSS feeds (you can aggregate links from +any source under the same interface, as long as that source provides an +RSS/Atom feed). + +And that's indeed the trajectory that social networks were projected to follow +until the early 2010s. The W3C and ISO had worked feverishly on open protocols +that could make the social network experience open and distributed, like the +whole Internet had been designed to run up to that date. And implementations +such as identi.ca, GNU Social and Diaspora were quickly popping up to showcase +those implementations. + +But that's not how history went, as we all know. Facebook underwent an +exponential growth through aggressive centralization and controversial data +collection practices and monetization practices. Most of the other social +networks also followed the Facebook model. Open chat protocols like XMPP were +gradually replaced by centralized apps with nearly no integrations with the +outside world. Open syndacation protocols like RSS and Atom were replaced by +closed timelines managed by centralized and closely guarded algorithms. This +was in part also due to Google killing Reader, the most used interface for +feeds, because it was in the way of their idea of web content monetization. +Open activity pub/sub algorithms were replaced by a handful of walled gardens. +Transparent, machine-readable data access was replaced by proprietary user +interfaces, and a few half-heartedly implemented APIs that cover only part of +the features and can be deprecated with nearly no notice depending on whatever +objective a private company decides to pursue on the short term. + +I would argue that the aggressive push towards centralization, closed protocols +and walled gardens of the 2010s has only benefited a handful of private +companies, while throwing a wrench in a machinery that was already working +well, replacing it with a vision of the Web that created way more problems that +the ones that it aimed to solve, and overall the 5-6 companies behind that +disaster named Web 2.0 are responsible for pushing the innovation of the +Internet back by at least a decade. + +The wave however, as it always happens in that eternal swing between +centralization and decentralization that pushes our industry forward, is +changing. The drawbacks of the centralized social network model have been under +everyone's for the past few years. The "you can check out any time you like, +but you can never leave, because all of your friends and relatives are here" +blackmail strategy starts to be less effective, because alternatives are +popping up, they are starting to gain traction, and the bleeding of active +users on Facebook and Twitter has been a fact for at least the past two years. +Twitter is well aware of it, and it has in fact decided to scale up the gear on +their [Bluesky +project](https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/4/23057473/twitter-bluesky-adx-release-open-source-decentralized-social-network). +They have recently published a [Github +repo](https://github.com/bluesky-social/adx) with a simple MVP with a server +and a command-line interface, and a (still quite vague) [architecture +document](https://github.com/bluesky-social/adx/blob/main/architecture.md) that +resembles a lot the ActivityPub implementation, except with a more centralized +control that would sit in the hands of a (still vaguely defined) +consortium/committee and a Blockchain-like approach to manage documents. This +has probably been an instinctive reaction to the bleeding of users towards +decentralized platform occurred after Musk's takeover, but to me it's too +little, too late: + +- There are nearly two decades of work behind ActivityPub. A lot of smart + people have already figured out the (open) solutions to most of the problems. + I don't see the value of reinventing the wheel through a solution owned by a + private company, with a private consortium behind it, that proposes a + solution that is largely incompatible with what the ISO and W3C have been + building since the mid 2000s. + +- I don't trust the sincerity of Twitter and the BlueSky investors. I feel like + the timing of their announcement is odd, it sounds much more like a + primordial reaction against Musk's takeover and the consequent bleeding of + users towards `mastodon.online` rather than a sincere effort to improve the + social media experience. And the publication of the Github repo (and + therefore the opening of the discussion with the community) has occurred way + too late. Had they been that interested in building a decentralized social + network, they should have been taking active part in the discussions around + ActivityPub for the past 10 years. Instead, they have milked their + centralized cow as long as they could (even when it was clear that it wasn't + profitable), built some hype around BlueSky in the past two years that was + all stale marketing talk, and they have rushed to publish a half baked MVP + from some engineer's laptop after the richest man on earth bought them. All + of this, just to prove the point that Twitter❤️open -source, that their cow + has run out of milk, that the geek community had been right all the time, + that they can't go anywhere without the open-source community (even if + they've been ignoring us for the past few years), but that they still deserve + get a chance of running the show their own way, with their own protocols, and + with a project where they still hold a majority stake. We shouldn't allow + their efforts to succeed, because they don't deserve to succeed. + +## The problem of content