Thanks to Openvibe, there’s life after Twitter

As part of this newsletter’s farewell to Twitter, I was going to begin with a nostalgic look back at my earliest tweets from 2007, which—true to early stereotypes about the site—tended to involve me announcing that I was having breakfast or going to bed. I was even going to link to some of them. But Twitter Advanced Search is busted at the moment, which somehow seems more fitting than if it were working.

Before I continue, a few Fast Company technology stories you may have missed:

So help me, I gave Elon Musk every chance and then some. When he decided to buy Twitter, I tried my best to be open-minded. Even after it was clear he was running the platform into the ground, I clung to the camaraderie of the many good people who hadn’t abandoned it.

Last week, around the time Donald Trump name-checked Musk in his victory speech on Election night, I snapped. Not only has Musk let hate and misinformation run wild on Twitter—I’m done calling it “X”—but he’s also made his own account a principal distribution mechanism for it. He is having a ruinous impact on our culture and there’s every reason to believe he’s just getting started.

I can’t stop Musk, a man capable of great things, from behaving terribly. But rather than continuing to participate in his dystopia, I’ve finally abandoned it. On my way out, I saw others whose contributions I’ve valued doing the same. People have been prematurely writing Twitter’s obituary for more than a decade, but this time it really is dead—at least to me.

Still, deciding to flee Twitter forced me to confront a matter I’d been avoiding. I already had a presence on the major Twitter alternatives: Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads. Managing all of them—on top of the time I was spending on Twitter—was a hassle. So I neglected all three. I got value out of them only in spurts, and rarely felt like a member of their communities.

What I wanted was the equivalent of Trillian for Twitter-like social networks—one app to handle ’em all. (Not counting Twitter itself, weirdly enough: Lacking support for it now seems like a feature, not a bug.) I knew about some partial solutions, such as Croissant (which only allows you to post to social networks) and Tapestry (which only lets you read them). But only when a helpful Bluesky user chimed in did I learn about Openvibe, a free app for iPhones, Android phones, iPads, and Macs that’s a true multi-network client.

And boy, do I love it. Sign into your Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads accounts in Openvibe, and you can post to all three networks at once. You also get a feed of everyone you follow on Mastodon and Bluesky woven into one stream. For technical reasons, this intermingled view doesn’t currently include Threads posts, but you can read replies from Threads users and reply to those replies. (Openvibe also supports Nostr, an open protocol for Twitter-esque social networks that has yet to catch on in a big way.)

No single social network is likely to fully rekindle the original Twitter vibe Musk so gleefully dismantled. But Openvibe smooshes the ones it supports into something that comes surprisingly close. The app is polished and pleasant, and has some clever features such as the ability to peruse a feed of posts that are popular with people you follow. Having used it for less than a week, I’m already more fully engaged with Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads. Any residual Twitter FOMO I felt has evaporated, way faster than I expected.

Here’s where I tell you where to find me henceforth:

Mastodon: @harrymccracken@mastodon.social
Bluesky: @harrymccracken.com
Threads: @technologizer

If you’ve already settled on one of these three sites as your online soapbox/hangout, you may not need Openvibe. But if, like me, you’re inclined to bop back and forth, you should give it a try. Developing too much emotional attachment to any one social network that could collapse is a mistake I don’t—sniff—intend to make again.

Read/Listen/Watch/Try

In this new Plugged In section, I’ll recommend articles, shows of various sorts, and apps—anything I’m enjoying this week. Got any recommendations? Let me know: hmccracken@fastcompany.com.

I’m cautiously optimistic about Apple’s thoughtful approach to AI as seen in its still-in-beta Apple Intelligence features. But the iPhone’s AI summaries of notifications for apps such as Messages and Messenger usually read like they were written by a robot with no social skills. Which they were! I enjoyed this piece by The Verge’s Wes Davis on some of the odder ones he and his colleagues have encountered.
After writing the above piece on Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads, I’m exhausted just by the prospect of another social network. Yet a fledgling called Sez Us, for all its Twitter-mimicking surface, is enough different to deserve to exist. Cofounded by veteran Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, it’s trying to be a place for respectful political dialogue (a goal Twitter has abandoned and other social networks do their best to shirk) and is working on reputation scores—a feature which, if done well, could help you tell the good eggs from the bad guys and bots.
I’m using part of the time I’m not spending on Twitter reading New York Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac’s book, Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter. It’s at least the third inside look at Musk’s Twitter, none of which cover his apparently successful attempt to influence last week’s U.S. presidential election. But it’s good! Here’s hoping for a paperback addition with a meaty addendum.

You’ve been reading Plugged In, Fast Company’s weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to you—or if you’re reading it on FastCompany.com—you can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Wednesday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters.

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