Twitter → Mastodon
I am a stub, don’t click me. Every TWTR move Musk makes is more short-sighted than the last. Cutting off third party apps was just the last in a series of them. But it makes life on Mastodon a creative frontier super exciting in Jan ’23 when it comes to innovative software. There are great minds working on clients that I am jockeying and comparing all day. Some history, notes, and a newbie premier.
There's been too much written about Twitter and Mr. Tweet. For a good summary of the dumpster fire I'd look at the Atlantic to sum it up.
Musk rains hell on 3rd party Twitter clients
In an attempt to stop the bleeding—third party clients didn't bring in ad revenue—the Tesla boss shuts off access.
The blow by blow:
Third party twitter clients are cut off without notice, some after 15 years of advancing the platform
Later a note is smuggled into the developer documentation
Twitterific is dead. After everything that it did for the platform.
Tapbots retires Tweetbot
AppStore customers start requesting refunds and blame small software shops for software that stopped working. Thrwo
Musk gutted the accessabilty team at Twitter, and since Twitterrific had some of the best support for the same, many customurs are now struggling to use the platform
The loss of Twitterrific is one The Iconfactory, and especially disabled Twitter users, will mourn for some time. To its credit, Twitter’s own first-party app used to be pretty solid in terms of adopting system accessibility features like Dynamic Type and Increase Contrast on both iOS and the Mac. Of course, that all changed drastically and (likely) irreparably when Musk inexplicably and unconscionably gutted the company’s entire accessibility team as part of the layoffs that occurred in early November.
From the ashes → Creativity
https://mastodon.social/@terhechte/109762188190735435
Room for improvement
What the current clients all fail to do.
They are taking the existing language for granted, even if it is uninspired and confusing.
In the early days of Twitter, Twitterrific defined the language of the eco-system. In an email Blaine, one of Twitter's API engineers wrote to Craig Hockenberry, the programmer behind the app:
“Two thoughts; first, how about changing ”twit” to “tweet” - the “official noun” is “Twitter Update”, but that's boring...?”
https://furbo.org/2013/06/28/the-origin-of-tweet
While this wasn’t an official endorsement, Craig pushed not just the interaction design forward, but also injected life into the labels. Words are curial in software design, not just for understanding while you're seeing the thing, but to be able to communicate concepts when you're not.
Take this for example:
iMessage style Mastodon client experimentation from @terhechte@mastodon.social.
On the flip side, Mastodon had a great run. Some of the best third party clients out there are fighting to make it more accessible.
Elon Musk shut down access to third party clients without notice. Just some notes from Twitteriffic launched in ’07.
“Facebook is for old people who hate computers. Mastodon is for old people who love them.”
— Paraphrasing. Read this on Mastodon and just can’t turn up the source.
Is Mastodon for you?
To use Mastodon, you'll first need to pick a server. Think of it like picking an email provider. Here are some servers general interest servers, open and ready for you today:
These apps have driven the twitter eco-system forward since the early days and were home to some of the most prolific posters.
Coming from Twitter and Masto-curious?
See if who you're following on the old site give movetodon on a go.
The site is often overloaded, so you may have to try again.
Twitter → Mastodon
I am a stub, don’t click me. Every TWTR move Musk makes is more short-sighted than the last. Cutting off third party apps was just the last in a series of them. But it makes life on Mastodon a creative frontier super exciting in Jan ’23 when it comes to innovative software. There are great minds working on clients that I am jockeying and comparing all day. Some history, notes, and a newbie premier.
There's been too much written about Twitter and Mr. Tweet. For a good summary of the dumpster fire I'd look at the Atlantic to sum it up.
Musk rains hell on 3rd party Twitter clients
In an attempt to stop the bleeding—third party clients didn't bring in ad revenue—the Tesla boss shuts off access.
The blow by blow:
Third party twitter clients are cut off without notice, some after 15 years of advancing the platform
Later a note is smuggled into the developer documentation
Twitterific is dead. After everything that it did for the platform.
Tapbots retires Tweetbot
AppStore customers start requesting refunds and blame small software shops for software that stopped working. Thrwo
Musk gutted the accessabilty team at Twitter, and since Twitterrific had some of the best support for the same, many customurs are now struggling to use the platform
The loss of Twitterrific is one The Iconfactory, and especially disabled Twitter users, will mourn for some time. To its credit, Twitter’s own first-party app used to be pretty solid in terms of adopting system accessibility features like Dynamic Type and Increase Contrast on both iOS and the Mac. Of course, that all changed drastically and (likely) irreparably when Musk inexplicably and unconscionably gutted the company’s entire accessibility team as part of the layoffs that occurred in early November.
From the ashes → Creativity
https://mastodon.social/@terhechte/109762188190735435
Room for improvement
What the current clients all fail to do.
They are taking the existing language for granted, even if it is uninspired and confusing.
In the early days of Twitter, Twitterrific defined the language of the eco-system. In an email Blaine, one of Twitter's API engineers wrote to Craig Hockenberry, the programmer behind the app:
“Two thoughts; first, how about changing ”twit” to “tweet” - the “official noun” is “Twitter Update”, but that's boring...?”
https://furbo.org/2013/06/28/the-origin-of-tweet
While this wasn’t an official endorsement, Craig pushed not just the interaction design forward, but also injected life into the labels. Words are curial in software design, not just for understanding while you're seeing the thing, but to be able to communicate concepts when you're not.
Take this for example:
iMessage style Mastodon client experimentation from @terhechte@mastodon.social.
On the flip side, Mastodon had a great run. Some of the best third party clients out there are fighting to make it more accessible.
Elon Musk shut down access to third party clients without notice. Just some notes from Twitteriffic launched in ’07.
“Facebook is for old people who hate computers. Mastodon is for old people who love them.”
— Paraphrasing. Read this on Mastodon and just can’t turn up the source.
Is Mastodon for you?
To use Mastodon, you'll first need to pick a server. Think of it like picking an email provider. Here are some servers general interest servers, open and ready for you today:
These apps have driven the twitter eco-system forward since the early days and were home to some of the most prolific posters.
Coming from Twitter and Masto-curious?
See if who you're following on the old site give movetodon on a go.
The site is often overloaded, so you may have to try again.