The fun thing about Mastodonning is that it is all new again. I worry much about what I see as a lot of effort to just transport the Twitter mindset there. Think differently, build a new.
As a small experiment, I am testing the WordPress Auto Post to Mastodon plugin to toot out new posts under my account. (well actually I already did using the plugin’s Test Toot feature) (I stole my own thunder) (like anyone noticed).
I continue to giggle writing all the Toot references. Wait until you read it used in academic talks and papers.
Previously I was using the ActivityPub plugin that does the same thing, but differently. It does toot my posts, but it lands under it’s own account @topdog so it is actually turning my blog into it’s own mini fediverse publisher.
The thing is, while it has my icon, it’s not published into my stream. Yes you can follow it. But for making a possible move for the DS106 Daily Create I needed to set up a way to toot from a specific account. This Autopost to Mastodon plugin works.
Actually I might leave them both going for a while.
Everything here is experimental.
The plugin setup required an authorization through my account. After submitting the info, my blog was left with a white screen of “Authenticating in progress” or something like that, but it was not spinning in progress. I opened the dashboard in another window, and saw in the plugin settings that it was connected.
That is something to keep in mind- a lot in the fediverse may be wonky at times. Just do not start complaining BECAUSE NO SINGLE MAD PERSON IS IN CHARGE!
As tooted:
But now, my blog toots as me. Toot! Toot! Salute the Toots!
UPDATE: I am testing to see if featured images from WordPress posts are posted to Mastodon with alt text descriptions (originally the image used did not have one, I am editing to test again)
Featured Image: Can I claim I was foreseeing Mastodon as a service in 2011? Sure! Why not?
thanks for sharing Alan! Still figuring out Mastodon and like you finding all the “newness” a bit much! Tooting making me smile this morning too