Title: Page 61 – Alex Kirk

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 * 
   ## 󠀁[Re: A solution for social media?](https://alex.kirk.at/2021/01/21/re-a-solution-for-social-media/)󠁿
   
 * January 21, 2021
 * [This post by Jan-Lukas Else](https://jlelse.blog/posts/social-media-solution)
   resonates a lot with me as I am building the [Friends Plugin](https://wpfriends.at/)
   with exactly the attempt of integrating the social aspect of blogging more into
   your own blog.
 * The Friends plugins joins the aspect of reading / following your friends’ blogs/
   twitters / etc. with seamless posting on your friends’ blogs, if you have established
   a friendship, thus (theoretically) allowing a full social experience (Facebook-
   like), just in the blogging world, not tied to a single vendor.
 * Having implemented this as a WordPress plugin brings the inherent requirement(
   with no other implementations yet, which are very much possible) of WordPress,
   but at the same time I think it lowers the barrier of entry, since it’s relatively
   easy to get a new WordPress blog hosted where you like.
 * [Web](https://alex.kirk.at/category/web/)
 * 
   ## 󠀁[Reducing Our Dependency On Third-Party Platforms For Our Online Activity](https://alex.kirk.at/2021/01/21/reducing-our-dependency-on-third-party-platforms-for-our-online-activity/)󠁿
   
 * January 21, 2021
 * There is something that I feel is not right with today’s web structure. We, as
   the population of the web, create so much content that ends up on servers of 
   large companies. We could own our data.
 * Therefore, I’d like to help reduce everyone’s dependency on third party platforms
   for their online activity.
 * 
   ## Vision
   
 * You use your own server for publishing and interact with other people’s content
   on their server.
 * **Since everybody follows this method, your content only reaches the people it
   is meant for, without involving a third party in the distribution.**
 * You interact using the same means of today: web UI, mobile apps; the difference
   is that they don’t talk to a third-party server, neither for publishing nor getting
   and interacting with others’ content.
 * I am trying to create a solution for this with [WordPress](https://wordpress.org)
   and the [Friends plugin](https://wpfriends.at/).
 * ![](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/01/friends-logo.png)
 * Note: in the following text I use the word “server” somewhat synonymous for the
   WordPress+Friends setup but it there could be alternative implementations. Also,
   server doesn’t mean “a dedicated machine somewhere,” you just need web space 
   where you can install WordPress, which doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. For
   example, [wpfriends.at](https://wpfriends.at) is hosted for €1,90/month incl.
   domain.
 * 
   ## Separation of Content
   
 * Today, separate social networks exist for different types of content; for example
   short content has its home on Twitter, Instagram is for photos. Facebook is a
   mix of this but allows for private content. Instant messengers like WhatsApp (
   or Facebook groups) are very clear about who the content or conversation is for.
 * So, separating content makes for a more homogeneous experience when consuming
   the content, also you have a good grasp of where (and for whom) you want to publish
   your content.
 * On your own server, you can separate out different types of content as well (
   in WordPress this is called “post formats”). You can also post something privately,
   only giving access to authenticated users.
 * ![](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/01/Add-New-Friend-‹-
   akirkdemo-—-WordPress-2021-01-21-at-10.03.59-1024x788.png)
 * Adding a friend and subscribing to multiple platforms on which they publish
 * The key is to connect the different types appropriately. By fetching the content
   from your friends and placing them in such “buckets,” **you now have the option
   to view everyone’s content from multiple perspectives**: everything from a single
   friend (or a group) across content types, or everything across friends of just
   one content type.
 * **By continuing to use specialized apps for different types of content, you keep
   the benefits but exclude the third-party** having full access to the content 
   since they now talk to your own server.
 * ![](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/01/Friends-2021-01-18-
   at-11.01.37-1-1024x843.png)
 * 
   ## Platforms
   
 * The possibility to publish on the Internet by using your own server (most of 
   the time: rented web space) is well-established since blogging was invented. 
   It can become clunky when you interact with others: how do I respond?
 * That’s why there are several reasons why platforms are appealing:
    - It’s easy to connect with others on the same platform.
    - Leveraging network effects is easier since the platform knows who is connected
      to whom.
    - Spam is usually under control.
 * Thinking back to the era of blogging, we had lots of interactions with others
   using comments and pingbacks. What mainly led to its demise was automated spam
   which reduced everybody’s willingness to be open for interaction. Commenting 
   meant moderating spam.
 * 
   ## Core
   
 * So one of the core features of the [Friends plugin](https://wpfriends.at/) is
   to solve the authentication problem between people you know and trust.
 * ![](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/01/friend-request.png)
 * When you decide “to become friends” with someone, it means that you both get (
   low privilege) accounts on each other’s servers.
 * You can give them permission to see your privately published content, or not.
   When you want to respond to their post, you are automatically authenticated on
   their side.
 * ![](https://alex.kirk.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/01/your-account-at-your-
   friends-blog.png)
 * This means that you could close comments for unauthenticated users (thus eliminating
   spam) but keep the discussion open for your friends.
 * 
   ## Transitioning
   
 * Using your own server still has a learning curve. Getting started with a self-
   hosted WordPress and installing the Friends plugin is not as trivial as creating
   an account on a social network.
 * While it has become considerably easier to register a domain, get webspace connected,
   and a WordPress installed, there are still many further steps until you really
   can get started.
 * So, reality is that your friends likely won’t be migrating off third-party networks.
   Possibly never.
 * To still allow yourself to disconnect, the Friends plugin **allows you to follow
   your friends across different (possibly third-party) channels** including popular
   social networks like Twitter.
 * You can subscribe to someone on Twitter and their messages will be aggregated
   on your server under their user, in the respective post format.
 * This means that you can either view all the content (that you follow) for a single
   friend, or you can view the aggregate type of content, e.g. all the short messages
   your friends posted across services.
 * 
   ## Not only for “real” Friends
   
 * Many use social networks to not only follow people they know and trust, but also
   to follow the news or celebrities. Despite the name of the Friends plugin, it
   can also do that.
 * **You can subscribe any supported content** (some out of the box, for others 
   you can extend it with plugins) **but not go into the friendship realm**.
 * Your server takes care of fetching the content from various third-party sources
   and **you can then consume the content in the way you see fit**:
    - The local “Friends UI” on your own server,
    - an RSS reader,
    - or more specialized clients like mobile apps.
 * 
   ## Ads
   
 * One side-effect of this could possibly be that this removes our content from 
   being wrapped in ads and websites trying to have us spend as much time as possible
   on their site.
 * We’d all spend a little money for domain and server every month or year for our
   own gain. We don’t need to put ads to our content.
 * For journalistic content it is already not uncommon for tech publications to 
   provide an ad-free RSS feed as part of their paid subscription.
 * 
   ## More Ideas
   
 * You can use your server to store more things, for example:
 * Your personal bookmark collection and todo lists (I have a work-in-progress for
   transitioning my previous project called [thinkery.me](https://thinkery.me) to
   a [WordPress plugin thinkery](https://wordpress.org/plugins/thinkery/) to host
   this yourself and use the [Android app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.thinkery.app)
   as a client).
 * Leverage your aggregated content as your own browser start page (my [WordPress plugin called Startpage](https://wordpress.org/plugins/startpage/)).
 * Right now, this is only implemented for WordPress, and the authentication is 
   only leveraged for consuming private content and posting comments. But it doesn’t
   need to end there.
 * The authentication could be used for further actions, for example you could give
   posting permissions to your friends to create a (private) forum, hosted by you
   or a friend.
 * The Friendship protocol is a REST API that can be implemented in other software
   as well.
 * [The Friends plugin is open source and GPL](https://github.com/akirk/friends).
 * 
   ## Work in Progress
   
 * How far along the way is the Friends plugin? It’s already well usuable for your
   own purposes. Like I said above, you can establish friendships between servers
   and consume your friends’ content, even from third-party social networks.
 * [There is still a lot to do](https://github.com/akirk/friends/issues), especially
   around commenting and notifications. Better tools are needed for leveraging network
   effects, like search your friends+ posts and explore their friends (if they allow
   you to do so).
 * [Open Web](https://alex.kirk.at/category/open-web/)

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