IndieWeb and Webmentions

The IndieWeb is gaining traction, even holding a conference! The New Yorker recently highlighted its relevance, framing the current social media crisis around a central question: server ownership. The article points out that most online activity occurs on servers controlled by a few massive corporations. These companies, not charging users directly, must recoup costs through other means, essentially extracting value from user data.

The IndieWeb's core principle is self-hosting: complete control over your website, unlike platforms where you're reliant on third-party services. This doesn't preclude using those services; instead, it advocates for syndication – using your own site as the primary source and then distributing content elsewhere.

Instead of tweeting, write a blog post and automatically share it on Twitter. Instead of using Medium, publish on your own blog and then syndicate to Medium. This approach leverages the benefits of these platforms without surrendering control.

Personally, self-hosting has been incredibly beneficial. Khoi Vinh eloquently describes its impact as an "amplifier," boosting his career visibility in ways that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.

While I self-host, I haven't fully embraced syndication, choosing not to cross-post to other platforms. While this might limit reach, given recent platform changes (like Hacker Noon, freeCodeCamp, and Signal vs. Nose), I'm hesitant to invest heavily in syndication strategies. The IndieWeb approach emphasizes syndication as re-posting, not as the primary location for original content, which is a crucial distinction.

My concern with syndication is potential SEO issues: would external SEO overshadow my own site's ranking? Relying on rel="canonical" tags, which aren't universally supported (Medium, for example, requires import tools), is problematic. This explains the frequent "originally published on..." disclaimers.

I'm torn between two perspectives. While I value analytics for understanding audience engagement and fulfilling sponsorship obligations, I appreciate the viewpoint of those prioritizing creative freedom over quantifiable metrics. Om Malik's decision to forgo analytics on his blog, focusing solely on personal satisfaction, is a compelling example.

Syndication to Twitter is particularly problematic. Year-end analytics consistently show minimal traffic from Twitter, despite significant effort invested in tweeting. I justify this by highlighting Twitter's role in industry updates and idea generation.

However, I could achieve these benefits without relying solely on Twitter for link-sharing and commentary. An IndieWeb approach is preferable, but I hesitate due to the added technical complexity and the perceived stylistic differences between tweets and blog posts.

Another IndieWeb component is webmentions, a POST-based system. When you link to someone's site, a webmention POST notifies them, allowing them to manage the interaction (typically saving it and displaying it like a comment). This offers several advantages:

• Centralized discussions: Responses from various platforms (Twitter, other blogs) are collected in one place.
• Promotes self-hosting: Encourages responses on individual websites, fostering a decentralized social web.

For WordPress users, this resembles pingbacks and trackbacks. Webmentions appear simpler and superior, and plugins are available. However, past experiences with pingback/trackback spam raise concerns about potential abuse.

Webmentions are reciprocal. You configure your site to receive POSTs, and ideally, you'd reciprocate by POSTing webmentions to others' sites when referencing their work. While plugins exist, many hand-roll their implementations. Services like Remy's simplify this process, automatically identifying links and sending webmentions.

The beauty of the IndieWeb is its incremental nature. Each step forward offers benefits, and collective adoption enhances the overall experience.

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