RSS on FediForum Connect

Emissary

Emissary is a programmable Fediverse server that can be customized to fit many different needs. The server itself provides many low-level features such as ActivityPub connectivity, online sales and subscriptions, media management, geolocation services, access controls, and more.

Additional applications can be installed on Emissary from a variety of sources. These lightweight packages are built with only HTML + JSON, and simply configure the various capabilities of the compiled Emissary server that runs them.

Emissary was first introduced by Ben Pate at FediForum in March 2024. There are currently several Emissary apps available, with more in the works:

The Emissary default app is a microblog, newsreader, and website builder
Bandwagon which serves indie musicians and bands
Atlas Maps, a social mapping server for local community reporting
Qwertylicious, subscription-based platform for long-form articles

The Bandwagon platform for musicians and bands is built on Emissary.

micro.blog

Easy blogging at your own domain name for short posts, full essays, photo blogs, and email newsletters, with a great community, cross-posting to other networks, and more.

What is Micro.blog?

Micro.blog is a unique platform that combines blog hosting with a social media-style timeline and community.

It’s a paid hosting service for personal blogs that makes it easy to publish short or long posts. Use it for short thoughts, longer essays, photos, podcasts, what books you’re reading, links to news articles, and more.

It’s a community whose members share posts via a timeline that is a safe space for conversations, free from advertising, trolling, and abuse, with community guidelines that are enforced.

Micro.blog launched in 2017 with a Kickstarter campaign supported by 3000 backers.

Micro.blog’s timeline shows posts from people you’re following. It’s always chronological. There are no trends, no ads, no boosts, and no extra clutter.

Micro.blog doesn’t have like counts or follower counts. It’s not a popularity contest. Private bookmarks instead of public likes let you reference a post or blog about it later. This focus on posts also simplifies the timeline and encourages quick replies when you want to acknowledge someone’s post. Cross-posting to Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, and more

Micro.blog can automatically copy your blog posts to many popular services. Post to your blog first, where you have more control over your content, then let Micro.blog send a copy everywhere. Start small, scale to anything

Micro.blog has so many features, you can start small with short blog posts and then grow your web site with photos, podcasts, email newsletters, and custom pages. But don’t be overwhelmed! The features you don’t need won’t get in your way.

Demo

November 2023

Read the book!

Manton Reece, the founder of micro.blog, has written a book called Indie Microblogging.

Surf

Surf, a browser for the open social web, gives people, publishers and creators a simple way to search for the conversations they care about or create feeds to build community around anything—from events to podcasts. Use Surf to see what people are saying on issues of the day, trends or topics you care about.

Create Surf Feeds for Your Community

People, publishers, organizations and communities can design a custom feed for themselves or others that share an interest. It takes just a few steps: Select +Create a Feed in the Surf Sidebar, name your feed, add a community hashtag and add sources like social profiles from Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon, YouTube channels, podcasts and RSS feeds. Your Surf feed can be shared on the web, serving as a resource for others or a dedicated space for conversations around any topic. Get started at https://surf.social.

Unite Community Conversations

Bring together the conversations happening across Bluesky, Mastodon, and federated Threads platforms by assigning a Community Hashtag to a Surf feed and posts from any of those networks, that use the hashtag, will show up in your feed. Now it doesn’t matter what platform your friends or fans like to use, you can see the whole community in one place.

Here’s a great one: https://allnet.surf.social/

WordPress ActivityPub plugin

The ActivityPub plugin adds ActivityPub support to WordPress, the open source publishing platform that powers over 43% of websites. Once installed, any WordPress site can join the Fediverse directly from its own domain.

With the plugin enabled, each site gets a site-wide federated profile and each author gets an individual federated profile. This lets people follow either a publication or a specific author from ActivityPub-compatible platforms.

The plugin also includes dedicated blocks for showing Fediverse followers, reactions, and follow buttons in your site layout. Site owners can keep using familiar WordPress workflows, themes, and plugins while participating in open social networking.

Demo

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a managed WordPress hosting platform operated by Automattic. It includes built-in ActivityPub support, so any WordPress.com site can join the Fediverse without extra setup or plugin management.

When ActivityPub is enabled, your site becomes a followable profile on the social web. People can follow your posts from ActivityPub-compatible platforms, while follower relationships remain tied to your domain.

Built-in moderation tools integrate with the existing WordPress comment system, making it easier to manage web and federated conversations in one familiar workflow.

WordPress.com handles hosting, security updates, and platform infrastructure so site owners can focus on publishing. Plans range from free to enterprise-level, with ActivityPub available on all plans.

write.as

About

Write.as is the easiest way to share your writing on the web.

Create a journal, newsletter, space for your thoughts. Reach people with your ideas, and form new connections. Keep loved ones in the loop, free from social media. Write.as is a simple, modern, and ad-free web publishing platform.

No distractions

The editor only gives you what you need to write, and automatically saves while you type.

Start a minimal blog

No comments, spam, likes, or distractions — just your words in your own digital space.

Privacy by default

We don’t collect your personal data, so you can write freely. Publish anonymously or under any name you choose.

Open distribution

Reach readers using open web technologies: browser, RSS, and ActivityPub.

Write.as Pro

Write.as Pro includes everything we offer on the platform, plus perks like early access to new features and our friendly human support.

Custom domains

Brand your site with your own domain name.

Three or more blogs

Publish to multiple lightweight blogs / identities under a single account.

Custom themes

Make your writing space fit your personality, starting from scratch or from our showcase of themes.

Privacy settings

Join our community on Read Write.as, password-protect your blogs, or keep them completely private.

Format control

Design your site as a novel, notebook, or in the classic blog format.

Newsletters

Start a newsletter people can read from their inbox.

Static pages

Add permanent pages to your site.

Photo hosting

Add visuals to your words with simple, integrated photo hosting from Snap.as.

More publishing options

Publish via email or our command-line app, and get a discount on our desktop app.

Discounts for longer subscriptions

Get a discount for subscribing for one or five years at a time.

Team support

Reach our friendly team of humans via email during business hours.

RSS on FediForum Connect

Emissary

micro.blog

What is Micro.blog?

A social web timeline

Demo

Read the book!

Surf

Create Surf Feeds for Your Community

Unite Community Conversations

WordPress ActivityPub plugin

Demo

WordPress.com

write.as

About

No distractions

Start a minimal blog

Privacy by default

Open distribution

Write.as Pro

Custom domains

Three or more blogs

Custom themes

Privacy settings

Format control

Newsletters

Static pages

Photo hosting

More publishing options

Discounts for longer subscriptions

Team support