Since Felon Musk has destroyed Twitter, I'm just going to blog a bit like it's Twitter. I blog on PostHaven, which is a wonderful blogging service you should definitely check out if you hate the Technogarchy, would like to adhere to a reasonable budget, and appreciate actual ethics. Here's a short list of the tools I'm using to achieve something of a social media presence:
- PostHaven - As I said above, it's a blogging service that costs $5 a month and allows for ten blogs, each of which can have it's own personal domain, but by default uses a subdomain of posthaven.com something like Tumblr or Medium. They've committed to building a service that will last at least 100 years and add a sweet twist; if you maintain your account for one year, they will keep your blogs online forever. If you miss a few months the worst that will happen is you won't be able to post until you make a payment. Read up on it. It's a really great deal. One handy feature is Autopost which sends my latest to LinkedIn and Twitter.
- Drafts 5 for Apple - Sorry Windows and Linux users, this one is a strictly macOS/iOS/iPadOS/Watch app. If, however, you use Macs, it's $20/year for the Pro version which turns the app into a beastly tool for writing. With a simple global shortcut it appears and I can just start typing. In default mode, it creates a new draft every fifteen minutes giving you a clean sheet every time to capture thoughts and ideas quickly. I turn this off since I can just create a new draft with the universally standard **⌘+N** keyboard shortcut. This allows me to keep one draft up while I'm actively working it. When I'm done, I use another keyboard shortcut to fire off the Mail Draft to PostHaven script and can complete the post in the PostHaven web editor. When posted, it then Autoposts to Twitter and LinkedIn.
- IFTTT (IfThisThenThat) - Twitter now sucks and LinkedIn isn't exactly a hotbed of activity for blog posting, so IFTTT comes in handy. If you are unaware, it's a web-based no-code automation tool that allows you to integrate hundreds of web services that don't natively talk to each other. While there is a heavy focus on home automation tools and services, IFTTT does have a load of connections to other helpful services and tools. With PostHaven only autoposting to LinkedIn and Twitter, I use IFTTT to take my RSS feed updates and send new posts to Facebook, Tumblr, and Mastodon, making a total of five places links for my post appear. Prices range from Free to $2.50/mo. for Pro and $5/mo. for Pro+, all rather reasonable if you ask me.
If you're into blogging, don't need a hosting plan, dislike what WordPress has become, would prefer to work with ethical companies and small developers, and don't want to drain your likely beleaguered bank account, this setup is very usable and affordable.
There are a few caveats, however. One big one is the PostHaven web editor. It's functional for just about any writing and can even take HTML code, but the editor window is small, which makes editing in situ a grind. Drafts 5 allows me to bypass this with a desktop editor and has the side-effect of keeping drafts of all my posts which then gets backed up to my NAS.
Another caveat is that Drafts 5 does not have any image or media support. While this isn't terrible, it means I have to add any images to my posts in the PostHaven editor. I'm still working on ways to get around this, or at the very least, make it easier to manage. Finally, IFTTT is subject to changes in the APIs of the services it supports requiring edits or rewrites to the no-code code to make it work again. Related to this is that LinkedIn periodically requires re-authorization for connections, but PostHaven tells me when this happens so I don't consider it a caveat. Just a periodic annoyance.
If you do use Linux (good) or Windows (bad) then everything but the Drafts 5 part will work for you, and PostHaven's email posting can be leveraged from a number of apps, like Obsidian... I believe. I haven't confirmed this and I'm lazy, but I think this feature is available. I might just do a write-up on how to do this from Linux, since I don't use Windows any more. At all. On anything...
That said, I still have work to do to make sure everything is working correctly, all the formatting is readable, and, most importantly, I'm happy with the results. I do feel that I'm on the right path, however. I truly hope that, in 2024, ActivityPub takes off and that it will ease some of the pains of the loss of old, borked Twitter. It wasn't great, but it worked!
PS: If, like me, you're interested in getting out from under the yoke of Corporate Computing and/or the Imperialist Internet there are two critical resources. One, AlternativeTo.Net, is a site that, as it's name implies, lets you find alternatives to the apps you are currently using. Two, Switching.Software, is a site that gives you curated information about ethical alternatives to popular applications that honor your privacy.