I am a Citizen of the IndieWeb! :D

For a while now I have found it frustrating searching through my Facebook feed to find posts and discussions. Facebook has been my main networking channel for a while now, more than Twitter this past year or so. But everything I put in there is easily lost, and it is really hard to get it out. It isn’t my space.

I’m keen to write more again — especially to share random thoughts on my projects (a creator’s log/dev diary). A blog is better for this and will reach people outside of my network. To be frank, considering the algorithms of Facebook and the serendipity of Twitter, blog posts may reach more people IN my networks too.

I, like many people have been looking out for a new social network. But another social network will not solve the problem. And neither will leaving social media. Then I stumbled on something.

Well I didn’t quite stumble, I went looking for it. I went to someone I know will have his finger on the pulse of what the vanguard-tech-scene-with-a-conscience is doing. Kevin Marks. I met Kevin in 2009 at the ultra secret O’Reilly Social Web FOO Camp. Yep, we camped on the O’Reilly grounds in Sebastopol, California. Kevin and I bonded immediately and caught up at tech events around the world. The following year we had a great conversation together over at TummelVision, and he advised me on the early tech ideas for my web audio adventure system. But back to the point. I was looking around at Kevin on the web, and came across this presentation he gave at LeWeb: “the web that will win“.

I found myself nodding at his comments. Yes, I remember when I used to blog! I remember my Technorati ranking peaking at times. And I’m well aware that I no-longer blog and instead use social networks as the places I post my primary original content. Then I read this:

The IndieWeb is a group of people who recognise that the silos are important for connecting – but you should have your own site. Don’t replace those tools, but use them to connect the rest of the web.

And I got it! Right! I don’t have to leave social networks. I just need to post all my content on my own blog and syndicate it out. So I don’t lose it. I control it. And it is easily archived, and found, and so on. I get it!

But there is more. You don’t just post to your own site. You don’t just syndicate. You still utilise social networks (and hang out there if you want). But even further to this: all the comments that happen around the web come back to your blog.

I am in. I have spent a few hours installing plugins and I have some more tweaking to do. This is my first post using the tech of the #IndieWeb and I’m not sure if it will work (and there is more updating of my pages I need to do here too). But by golly I am excited and will make it happen. I’m super keen to explore posting more and playing with post titles that work in syndication and everything that goes with this approach [addendum: the Social plugin I’m using gives you the opportunity to write what comes before your link so the title doesn’t matter at all — another cool thing]. If you’re interested too, check out the links below. Ping me if you have any thoughts! 😀

• IndieWebCamp – is where you’ll find out about the philosophies and technologies of the movement
• IndieWebify.Me – overview of what you need to make it happen yourself
• I used WordPress, and so there is a handy guide to gives you WordPress indieweb plugins instructions
• One of the plugins (rel-syndication) doesn’t work – here is the fix

Some articles on the IndieWeb:

• Dan Gilmor on “Why the Indie Web movement is important”
• “Meet the Hackers who want to jailbreak the Internet”
• Amber Case podcast interview on the origins of the IndieWeb and its future