A first attempt at using WordPress for microblogging

Here is the brand spanking new Larry Sanger Microblog, which lives at a domain I had sitting around doing nothing: http://StartThis.org. As you’ll see, it looks a little like a social media feed. I simply downloaded a theme, then spent the day fixing it up so it looked more or less right like a microblog. I limit myself to 280 characters. That helps.

Microdog

You can comment in response, if you like. Try to keep your responses to 280 characters!

I am soon going to start working with a developer on a proper WordPress plugin for microposting. But this will probably take several weeks (so he says). Therefore, in the meantime, I thought I’d go ahead and just use WordPress like a social media site.

I am hosting the microblog on my own NAS, which means the microposts are being served right out of my office. Talk about owning your own data! And an especially cool thing, I guess, is that it works fine, it was not hard to install and configure (on Synology, anyway), and—if you can believe it—it’s not slow!


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Comments

Please do dive in (politely). I want your reactions!

28 responses to “A first attempt at using WordPress for microblogging”

  1. Kim

    Interesting plug-in and thank you for your work.

  2. Tommy B

    Heard about this on Timcast. I like it!

  3. Can’t wait for the plugin to come to life. They’ve tried this before, 10 years or more ago. But Twitter kind of killed it. I guess it all comes back around. I hope this is a great plugin and it can have something in it to network with other users.

    1. So far, so good. I think it’s going to be a great alternative.

  4. Suitbert

    Hello Larry,
    looks great your microblogging theme! Any ideas to connect to indie web services? Could we give it a try for testing? Haven’t found it within the wordpress theme directory so far. Thanks a lot!
    best regards,
    Suitbert

    1. Hi Suitbert, thanks for the feedback! It will be more generally available in a few months, I estimate. Still working with a small number of beta-testers at this point…

      Yes, the plan is to connect it to the Fediverse, Minds.com, and Twitter, at least. More if possible.

  5. Max Phipps

    You might want to add a little responsiveness.

    1. Not sure what you mean. The theme used in StartThis is designed for mobile first and is plenty responsive…?

  6. Steve Gaffney

    How soon can people download your theme for Beta testing?

    1. Well…if you can commit to using it regularly, then we can add you to the growing list of users now. But it’s not going to be opened up to the general public until (I estimate) this fall or winter. Want to develop some important new features, first.

      1. Steve Gaffney

        I’d be thrilled to use it regularly!

      2. Steve Gaffney

        I’m not sure where to look to sign up, but I’d love to put your startthis theme to the test.

        1. Please email me. My first name @ sanger.io

  7. Hi Larry; Like many w/ sage advice you have a background in Philosophy, as do I, one who took your advice&applied it to create LibrariansWiki.org to save our only planet&species from extinction. On our current path that catastrophic process will be complete (speculation based on a growing body of evidence) in well under a decade unless your advice&my creation stemming from it change the future. The dedication at the site honors you. Thank you. Cute puppy pic BTW.

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