I\u2019ve noticed a growing conversation in some spaces on the web about the ethics and choices surrounding how the web is used. Or maybe not\u2014perhaps I\u2019m just reading into it. A recent blog entry by Manuel Moreale about how he chooses to allow readers to interact with his \u201ccontent\u201d1 got me thinking about how I choose to engage via the OpenWeb.
\n\n\n My content lives here, on my site. Everything in here is under my control and it\u2019s then distributed through three distribution channels.
\nThe first\u2014and most obvious\u2014is the web itself. My content is distributed to you via the Internet. You can ask your browser to get this page you\u2019re reading right now and get access to my content.
\nThe second is RSS. You can tell your RSS reader to fetch the content available on my website and you can then consume my content inside your app of choice.
\nThe final one is email. I send my posts via email because some people prefer to stay up to date that way and who am I to prevent that from happening?\n
While I\u2019m sure some readers have added my blog\u2019s RSS (Rich Site Summary) feed to their reader applications or RSS aggregators, the vast majority of my visitors find me via random Google searches. My search engine optimisation (SEO) skills must be quite good. \ud83d\ude04
\nIt used to be that automated link-sharing on Twitter and Facebook brought me the most traffic. However, after Facebook shut down API access to personal timelines (April 30, 2015) and Twitter did the same through its pricing model, I could no longer auto-share links to those platforms. Manually sharing links has become a chore.
\nDuring the pandemic (and possibly before that), I started using social media platforms less. But in 2019, I created a Mastodon account and began auto-sharing there via ActivityPub. Mastodon has since become the social platform I engage with the most. Over time, I imagine Mastodon link referrals will replace the traffic I previously received from Twitter.
\nAfter Google search referrals, the next largest segment of my web traffic comes via WordPress Reader. WordPress Reader acts as an RSS aggregator for WordPress.com, but it also allows users to add any RSS feed. With the JetPack app, I can read the latest posts from blogs I follow, interact via the comments (if enabled), and discover new blogs or topics.
\nYou don\u2019t need to blog on WordPress.com to use Reader, but you do need a free WordPress.com account. In many ways, Reader is a social RSS reader. If it supported webmention, it would be even more awesome!
\nFor me, email is synonymous with work. Corporate America generates a lot of it. After a day of sending and responding to emails, I have no patience for personal emails. My spam filter can barely keep up with the deluge of unwanted emails, and I don\u2019t want to invite more by discussing blog posts via email. Additionally, email correspondence lacks the historical connection to the original blog post that comments or social interactions can provide.
\nI often share links to other people\u2019s blog posts on social platforms. This draws attention to their content and encourages discussion. While POSSE (Publish [on your] Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere) is widely known, I propose an alternative acronym for cases where only a link is shared: LINCS (Linking Indirectly, No Content Shared).
\nGiven that \u201cThe point of putting content out there is to connect, to interact with others, to exchange ideas, and to grow,\u201d sharing links to my blog post and enabling my website to allow interaction via comments\u2014or on the social platform where the link is shared\u2014seems perfectly reasonable. By leveraging technology like webmention, I can bring those comments back to my website, creating a cohesive discussion.
\nIf you\u2019re curious about engaging with the OpenWeb, start small by subscribing to blogs via RSS or setting up your own Mastodon account. The OpenWeb is more vibrant when we all connect and share in ways that respect both creativity and autonomy.
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