Usernames on Micro.blog

Micro.blog now has 3 distinct styles of usernames to make the platform more compatible with other services:

  • Micro.blog usernames, e.g. @you. These are simple usernames for @-mentioning someone else in the Micro.blog community.
  • Mastodon usernames, e.g. @you@yourdomain.com. When you search Micro.blog for these usernames, Micro.blog will look for the user in another federated Mastodon instance so that you can follow them.
  • IndieWeb-friendly domain names, e.g. @yourdomain.com. This is where I always thought we’d go for more distributed “the web is the social network” interactions. Replying to one of these usernames will send a Webmention to that user’s external web site.

I’m @manton on Micro.blog, my blog is manton.org, and because Micro.blog-hosted blogs support the ActivityPub API, you can follow me from Mastodon by using @manton@manton.org.

I just rolled out some ActivityPub-related reply improvements. I’ll continue to improve the Micro.blog timeline so that these usernames can all coexist nicely. We’ll also be updating the native apps to better support these usernames, for highlighting and auto-completion.

Simon Woods

Sweeeet. I like how the updates are connected, in a batch to make a specific part of the platform much stronger.

2018-11-08 5:01 pm
Eli Mellen

this seems really neat -- I am a wee bit confused, though. I syndicate from my personal website (eli.li) to micro.blog. On micro.blog I have an existing username, @eli which username is canonical, @eli or @eli.li (e.g. @mydomain.tld)?

2018-11-08 5:15 pm
Eli Mellen

ah...I think I may have answer my own question there. I see that @eli and @eli.li (@ eli {dot} li) both resolve to @eli

2018-11-08 5:17 pm
Manton Reece

@eli The domain name usernames are really for people who don't have a Micro.blog account at all. It's still pretty early, though, so I expect it'll evolve and be more integrated in the future.

2018-11-08 5:47 pm
Eli Mellen

wicked! That makes sense. Thanks so much.

2018-11-08 6:17 pm
Eddie Hinkle

This is huge!! Thanks so much, !

2018-11-09 6:59 am
Simon Woods

I'm trying to work out which way the IndieWeb compatibility moves. If the domain usernames are for people who don't have a Micro.blog account does that mean those of us with Micro.blog account can now be contacted via domain-based webmentions?

2018-11-09 9:47 pm
Manton Reece

@simonwoods Yes. An external IndieWeb site can reply to a post on Micro.blog and it will be threaded into the conversation using their domain name.

2018-11-10 1:12 pm
Stephen B

That's very cool!

2018-11-10 2:14 pm
Angelo Stavrow

This is awesome! For those of us with both a Micro.blog account and a (different) IndieWeb-friendly domain, is there a way to link the two identities?

Or does that even make sense in the context of webmentions? Probably not, right? You’d want the webmention going to the specific post, and not necessarily the author.

2018-11-10 4:41 pm
Manton Reece

@AngeloStavrow You can link the identities by including your external site on your account's site URL and make sure it's verified. That'll help match up the accounts if you ever reply via a Webmention.

2018-11-10 5:16 pm
Angelo Stavrow

Awesome, thanks for the clarification!

2018-11-10 7:20 pm
Simon Woods

Thanks for the explanation! 👍🏻

2018-11-12 4:45 am

Manton Reece @manton
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