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2026-03-05 19:34:00

fediversereport@mastodon.social

new from me: FR#156 - Share Where?

on @Mastodon 's new Share button, the Mastodon API and protocol ownership

https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fr156-share-where/

2026-03-05 19:49:20

julian

julian@activitypub.space

@fediversereport@mastodon.social I'd say a protocol handler would be one small step in making this better handled.

The friction with a global "share to the fediverse" button is the instance chooser. Not knowing what your home instance is is a major sticking point.

A protocol handler could allow you to skip this step, assuming you have an app that has registered against it.

Otherwise, yes, the same fallback would need to continue to exist (enter your home server! blah blah)

2026-03-05 19:59:15

Julian Fietkau

julian@fietkau.social

@fediversereport Good overview as usual.

One point I would have added is that, while Mastodon announced this Share button a while back, a “pure” ActivityPub-based way to expose share URLs and similar features exists in FEP-3b86 (https://fediverse.codeberg.page/fep/fep/3b86/) and has also been gaining prominence recently (c.f. the list of implementations).

For example, ActivityPub for WordPress published its v8.0.0 today, which includes new “Like” and “Share” buttons that use this proposal.

2026-03-05 20:37:59

ikuturso 🇪🇺

ikuturso@mastodon.social

@fediversereport @Mastodon it's interesting to mention email protocols like IMAP or SMTP as the example of what should be since neither of those (and indeed POP) started out as a standard either, they lived for a long time as same kind of defacto standards as the Mastodon API but after many versions eventually became actual ones.

2026-03-05 20:53:40

Seth of the Fediverse

phillycodehound@indieweb.social

@fediversereport @Mastodon Is this a failure of Mastodon for not being more open or on the great AP community for not stepping up and getting a more generic share button setup sooner?

🤔

2026-03-05 22:42:39

Eugen Rochko

Gargron@mastodon.social

@fediversereport @Mastodon The share button does not use the Mastodon API and has nothing to do with whether 3rd party apps or different platforms choose to implement the Mastodon API or not.

2026-03-06 05:30:01

django

django@social.coop

@Mastodon @fediversereport glad to see an extended critique of the way the Mastodon API has been getting entrenched in the Fediverse to the expense of the ActivityPub API

2026-03-08 01:34:34

Bocchi the Ryu :archlinux:

ryusei@techhub.social

@fediversereport

This is a really nice read, and I would love to keep up with your stuff, but I don't do newsletters. Any chance you could implement an RSS feed, or did I just not see it?

2026-03-12 11:35:17

prex

prex@livellosegreto.it

We’re pleased to be able to share that Mastodon GmbH has formally joined the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the multi-stakeholder community organisation that develops standards like ActivityPub. We look forward to collaborating in the evolution of the <br />open social web through the Social Web Working Group. Several members of the team took part in the first meeting of the group at the end of last week, and we are excited to be part of this important work.

@fediversereport I've read on the latest Trunk and Tidbits, published after this newsletter, that mastodon is joining the W3C, so maybe they are going to pick up their responsibilities in solving the issue?
Really liked the article btw, pretty clear even to a layman like myself