WordPress.com Adds Support for ActivityPub
WordPress.com, the popular website creation platform, has announced the addition of support for ActivityPub, a decentralized social networking protocol. This new feature is available for both free and paid plans, allowing users to join the fediverse from their WordPress.com sites and interact with content across federated platforms like Mastodon.
ActivityPub is a protocol that enables users to follow and interact with content from different platforms without leaving their preferred federated service. With the latest version of the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress, blogs or sites can now have their own ActivityPub profile, expanding the availability of ActivityPub interoperability.
To activate ActivityPub support on WordPress.com, users can navigate to “Settings > Discussion” and enable the feature. They also have the option to use a custom domain for a shorter and more memorable identifier. It’s important to note that this support is only available for new posts and may have a short delay in appearing on federated platforms.
While this addition to WordPress.com marks a significant expansion for ActivityPub interoperability, it’s worth mentioning that other platforms like Tumblr have yet to embrace this protocol. In 2022, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg announced that Tumblr would add support for ActivityPub, but it has not materialized yet. A current Tumblr employee stated that they are still evaluating it but highlighted potential cost concerns for the company.
The adoption of ActivityPub has been slow-moving, despite the unfavorable changes and treatment of external links by platforms like Twitter. Blogging pioneer Dave Winer is skeptical about ActivityPub becoming a standard, stating that “the world will not coalesce behind ActivityPub” in its search for a standard.
However, for those already active on federated platforms supporting ActivityPub, WordPress.com’s new features can be useful for ensuring meaningful participation. It provides an easy way for more people to follow WordPress sites and expand their content’s reach into the fediverse.
The future adoption of the ActivityPub protocol across more apps and platforms remains uncertain. When Threads announced its support for ActivityPub, Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko emphasized that large platforms adopting ActivityPub validate the movement towards decentralized social media and provide a path for users to switch to better providers.
While this wider network of ActivityPub support gives users more choice in the platforms they use to communicate, the social media landscape’s evolution is still volatile and unpredictable. Many individuals find themselves interacting across multiple networks while waiting for the dust to settle.
In conclusion, WordPress.com’s addition of ActivityPub support is a significant development for the availability of decentralized social networking. It allows users to join the fediverse from their WordPress.com sites and interact with content across federated platforms. While the adoption of ActivityPub as a standard remains uncertain, this new feature provides WordPress.com users with more options for engaging with the wider social media landscape.
