Micro Monday

This week, Jean talks to Vincent, a returning guest who appeared on Episode 74 in December 2019, when we talked about his Micro.blog app, Gluon. Since then, Vincent started working on the Micro.blog apps, and was instrumental in launching the official Micro.blog Android app.

Rob joined Micro.blog four years ago, and even attended a Micro Meetup in Minneapolis when Jean was there in 2018. In 20 minutes, we catch up, talk about how corporate social media has warped the blogging culture, and notice how even talking about Twitter raises our blood pressure. After the end of the regular episode, there is a second bonus section we recorded to discuss Until the End of the World, a 1991 film directed by Wim Wenders, that we both are passionate about. Could this be the beginning of a Micro Film Group? Email jean@micro.blog if you’d be interested in a semi-regular meetup to discuss film.

This week’s guest, Denny, is known for his posts about sustainablility, featuring lessons he’s learned as a tiny house inhabitant in the Missouri woods, where he also does website design and graphic design. We talk about his experiments in sustainable living, his longtime blog, new interest in Mastodon, and cute armadillos.

This week’s guest Eric is well known for his photos from his running adventures. He also has an unusual winter hobby, so be sure to listen if you want to get some DIY backyard ice-skating rink tips.

On this week’s episode, Aaron tells us a bit about the handcrafting of leather goods, how crafting helps us connect to our human nature, and why the humans of Micro.blog are so friendly. Aaron’s Premium Handcrafted Leather Goods Micro Camp: a virtual gathering of the Micro.blog community March 2022 August 2021

On this week’s episode, Valerie talks about how travel got her started with blogging, and answers Jean’s many questions about living and working in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

This week’s guest, Fabio, is a student of data science and economics, who looks for ways to build and support the polyamory community. We chat quite a bit on the hurdles of building community in the era of pandemic, how social media does and does not support communities, and how Micro.blog fits in. (There’s also a few minutes of Star Trek chat at the end.)

Manton Reece, founder of Micro.blog, comes on the podcast to talk about some of the new things that have been added to the platform just lately, such as: Location features New themes: Gateway and Alpine Font Awesome plug-in New status bubble No Robots plug-in for disabling search engine indexing Indie Microblogging book status update

Clifford joins us for a chat about his practice of posting a photo a day, mostly from his location in the Sierras, but sometimes on the road visiting other stunning locales. We get into a discussion of what is sustainable and scalable for Micro.blog, and Clifford offers up a feature idea for greater discovery options.

Anna Havron is the latest guest on Micro Monday. She talks about her love of analog office tools, how she got addicted to writing, and what brought her to Micro.blog. Analog Office annahavron.com Anna’s microblog for cats, flowers, and stuff Want to write a book? You probably already have! by Patrick Rhone, Micro Camp August 2021 presentation How to Self-Publish A Novel by Cheri, Micro Camp March 2022 presentation Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier

Back after a hiatus, Micro Monday welcomes Sven. Sven did a presentation for the last Micro Camp titled Accessible Microblogging: A Crash Course (YouTube). We talk about whether or not Sven has a blog, and how to get the hang of Micro.blog when you first join.

This week’s episode features a chat with Ridwan. He’s an engineer who likes reading and writing. He had just started a newsletter when Micro.blog announced a new newsletter subscriptions for Premium members. Ridwan has upgraded, and is now considering what he will do for a podcast, which is another of the additional features offered in the Premium plan.

Manton Reece returns to the Micro Monday podcast to talk about two new features that were recently announced: scheduling posts and email newsletter subscriptions. We also talk about something fun coming in 2022 at the end of the episode.

This weeks guest is Art, an Irish writer with some ambivalent feelings toward technology. He publishes “Talk about books,” a newsletter on Substack. Tot by Iconfactory Andrew Marvell (1621–1678), poet

This week’s guest is Pete, developer of the Tufte theme for Micro.blog, organizer (with @cheri) of the Micro.blog writers’ meetup, and a fan of pens, ink, and paper.

On this episode, Chad talks about how he came to Micro.blog (a Kickstarter backer!), how he became a sketchnoter, and why he likes the Racket platform for audio sharing. Check out Chad’s Micro Camp presentation (together with Chris), Getting Started With Sketchnoting and learn how to create your own sketchnote selfie.

On this week’s episode, Jatan talks about how he became interested in space exploration in school, why the Moon is much more than a big rock in the sky, and how he has made Micro.blog his internet base station.

On this episode, Laurence Warner joined us for a chat shortly before his debut double album Smalltown Dreamer was released under his stage name Cerulean. We talked about using Micro.blog as a creator and performer, how Micro.blog could attract more folks from the performing arts, and the fun of meeting up with another microblogger (Jas) in person. PS. Laurence will be a presenter at Micro Camp, coming this Friday! Sign up to receive an invite to this free two-day gathering and community celebration.

We’re back with Micro Monday podcasts! This week, Jas talks about how he became a “slowpreneur,” what he likes about Micro.blog, and how we can encourage more people to join our community.

A special episode to mark a milestone for the Micro Monday podcast. Manton and Jean talk with Patrick Rhone, who previously appeared on Episode 4. We take a look at how Micro.blog has evolved and where it’s going, focusing on these questions: How important are independent blogs, considering what we have seen elsewhere in social media? How has Micro.blog and the community evolved? How could Micro.blog be improved? Our pets share opinions too.

This week’s guest is Rom. According to his bio on Micro.blog, he is “geek to the max.” He is also an avid photographer, and especially enjoys sharing food photos. He shares a lot of photos on Flickr, and we talk a bit about how online communities evolve. Finally, we talk about a local delicacy, the purple yam, which can be used in many tasty dishes and condiments. Purple yam cheesecake, part of Rom’s Flickr photostream

This week’s guest Jess shares her wide variety of interests, including linguistics, the indie web, a revealing Harry Potter sorting quiz, and her tabby cat Gidget.

Mandaris Moore, aka Manny, is this week’s guest. We talk about his journey from AIM to MySpace to Twitter before he landed on Micro.blog, a place that makes him happy. Check out his series of Swift Slowly posts, where he shares his journey of learning, and his photos of Lillie the adorable pandemic rescue dog.

This week’s guest, Nell is a literacy tutor based in New England, who enjoys exploring new worlds via books, blogs, and virtual realities. We share our favorite reads in science fiction and mysteries, as we acknowledge the many tangents our discussion could take. A couple of Nell’s recommended books: Connie Willis, To Say Nothing Of The Dog (Oxford Time Travel) Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle (World Of Howl #1)

This week’s guest, Greg, shares some warmth from the Gulf Coast of Florida. Greg tells us why his microblog is really his first blog, despite his years of experience building and maintaining websites. We talk about whether the notion of a “challenge” is helpful when it comes to maintaining a blogging streak. At the end, we nerd out a bit about Star Trek: Voyager.

On this week’s episode, Mario (@mariovillalobos) talks photography, social media pros and cons, finding Micro.blog by following Alan Jacobs’ (@ayjay) work, and the surprise that folks in distant places appreciate his photos of leaves in Montana.

Dominik has a lot going on. And we don’t even talk about the house he is building or where he got his internet handle @ohBananaJoe. (But you can check out the song on YouTube.)

Tyler talks about what it means to hit the sweet spot with his microblog, his main site (Parenthetical Recluse) and his newsletter. (He recently started a podcast too.) We also talk about dogs as a very good reason for microblogging, and Tyler explains what the difference between a Morkie and a Jorkie is.

Kicking off the new year with a chat with Ana, who lives in Portugal. It’s the third in our unintentional series of visits with microbloggers in that country. Ana talks about why she likes Micro.blog and what she’s learned as a member of the community, including the fact that there are more than a few introverts.

This week’s guest is Helge, a Norwegian living in Portugal. He’s been on Micro.blog since the Kickstarter launch in 2017, but he has become more active on his microblog during the pandemic. He has many interests and hobbies, from photography to German cinema to smoking meats. We try to cover them all in this episode.

Maique joins us this week from Lisbon. He worked for two decades as a photojournalist before becoming an independent photographer. He talks about the challenges of doing photography when you can’t travel, and how he copes as a new dad with the flood of baby photos. We also chatted about the upcoming A Day In The Life global photo challenge and why we shouldn’t overthink our contributions: I don’t think we can compete with a professional book made by 100 professional photographers, but at the same time, I don’t think 100 professional photographers would be able to do a Micro.blog book because they’re not part of this community.

Manton answers questions from the Micro.blog community: Will there be new themes? Do the native apps do everything that you can do on the web? What are the benefits of the Family Plan? and more! What’s new in Micro.blog 2.0 on Manton’s blog Micro.blog 2.0 press release Follow Manton on Micro.blog

Besides train travel, curry snacks, and photography, Bharath and Jean manage to talk a bit about microblogging and how it has helped Bharath reinvigorate his writing practice. It’s given me the confidence to write more and to put myself out there more. It kickstarted a new creative phase in what I want to do. Follow Bharath on Micro.blog.

Do I really want to spend my day looking at Facebook? Do I want to spend my life looking at Facebook? No, I do not! And yet, Micro.blog serves the purpose of feeling connected and getting new ideas, but it’s so much more manageable. It isn’t so addictive, and there aren’t the ads. You don’t feel like your supporting something evil by looking at it. It’s just enough. It’s just right. Lisa Sieverts is a project management professional and teacher in New Hampshire. We talk about what you gain when you consciously give up a time-wasting habit (ref. Annie Dillard), and whether the time-honored art form of contradancing could be preserved during the era of social distancing with a microcast.

Jon Hays comes back to the podcast for the first time since Micro Monday Episode 6 in April 2018. We talk about the new version of Sunlit, soon to be released, and how photoblogging has encouraged more social interaction in the Micro.blog community.

Jean and Manton do a quick review of 2020 so far, including: Photo challenge IndieWebCamp Austin Free podcast hosting for all accounts through April Six months free hosting, including podcast hosting, for teachers Categories and category feeds Hosting replies Updates of iOS and macOS include post editing Sunlit updated

This week’s guest is Jeremy Cherfas, a biologist and a science journalist based in Rome who is particularly interested in food and agriculture. He produces Eat This Podcast and even did a 32-episode microcast series about bread and wheat called Our Daily Bread for a daily podcast challenge. We talk about the IndieWeb and share some ideas on how to get started in podcasting.

Joel Mearig celebrated the 101st episode of his microcast I’m Talkin’… this week.

Chris Aldrich is a modern-day cyberneticist, a trained biomedical and electrical engineer, and a talent manager/producer who has a “horrible IndieWeb hobby that probably takes up more time than it should.” We talk about how he got into the entertainment business by building a 3D heart, and how he came to the IndieWeb via one of Leo Laporte’s shows on TWiT. We commiserate about the difficulty of getting people to move from Facebook to the IndieWeb, especially our parents. Chris’s About page

With some effort and discipline, we managed not to turn this into a Buffy The Vampire Slayer podcast. Scholar-librarian-doctoral candidate Kimberly Hirsh talks with Jean about how a blog post about being nice on the internet led her to a comment by Chris Aldrich, which led her the IndieWeb and Micro.blog, and… well, she fell down a rabbit hole and stayed up all night figuring out how to make her site follow IndieWeb principles. We also talk about her dissertation, and how Final Fantasy has inspired her. Doing my part to fix the internet, March 19, 2017 on Kimberly’s blog

Jan Erik Moström is a computer science professor in Umeå, Sweden, as well as an avid photographer with an interest in martial arts. We talk about the talented photographers on Micro.blog, how the geographic diversity of the platform has grown, and why Jan Erik likes Hugo. And other stuff too.

This week’s guest, Amanda Rush is a web developer and accessibility practitioner who loves to cook and read. She also loves the IndieWeb movement and Micro.blog. Of her own blog, she says: I want to own all my content and have control over it, and to that end I am constantly updating this site so that it contains as much of my data as possible from any silo I may have an account on. I decided to start doing this when I finally got tired of all the curated timeline nonsense and the social media design element that encourages us to be horrible to each other online for clicks. We talk about what drew her to IndieWeb practices (spoiler alert: webmentions), and what she recommends to folks without tech experience who want to try out the Indieweb (another spoiler alert: Micro.blog). Transcript

This week’s guest is Natalie Hester, who is an Austin-based fundraiser for educational institutions and a new mom. We talk about the key role played by Facebook friends and gratitude journaling in Natalie’s discovery of Micro.blog. Transcript A shout-out to @nataliekayh’s Facebook friends @drewcastillo and @caseymhunt, who helped her make the switch to Micro.blog. (We owe you a cake!

Like last year when I covered Episodes 1-10, I took advantage the quiet time between Christmas and New Year’s to gather up some clips from Episodes 11-20. If you’re new to the podcast, here’s another great starting point. All the best to this wonderful community in 2020. xoxo Links to the episodes excerpted 11: Mike Haynes (@mikehaynes) 12: Smokey Ardisson (@smokey) 13: Fiona Voss (@fiona) 14: Jim Withington (@jw) 15: Chris Powell (@mnmltek) 16: Vanessa Hamshere (@vanessa) 17: Eli Mellen (@eli) 18: Eddie Hinkle (@EddieHinkle) 19: Jason Dettbarn (@endonend) 20: Jason Burk (@Burk)

Manton Reece interviews Jean MacDonald about what it’s like to be the community manager for Micro.blog. We talk about Jean’s early expectations for the platform, talking to users on the podcast and at meetups, curating posts in Discover, how Micro.blog features are different than other platforms, and the advantage of starting small.

Vincent is the developer of Gluon, the iOS and Android app for Micro.blog. He just announced a public beta for the Android version (the iOS public beta was already available). We talk about his journey from pilot training to app building, what he likes about Micro.blog, and what you can do with inedible Christmas cookies. (Hint: watercolor) With Micro.blog, I wanted to explore the API, which was really easy to get going with, and I really appreciated that. It’s not like some black box magic, you get raw JSON feeds and it’s really nice.

This week’s guest is Andrew Canion of Perth, Australia, who created a Blogvember challenge for himself and shared it with the Micro.blog community. He also inspired Microblogvember. Thanks to Andrew, lots of folks at M.b blogged a daily basis for a whole month!

This week’s guest, Ton Zylstra just celebrated his 17th year of blogging. He works as a consultant, assisting governments and private entities in being open by design, as part of a more comprehensive data governance approach. Together with his wife, he organizes a “birthday unconference,” a unique gathering which is part conference, part celebration, combining public and person interests.

This week’s guest is Chris from New Zealand. He’s a geek, an environmentalist, and a geologist. He is also known around Micro.blog for being a cricket fan.

Adam Tinworth was a journalist for two decades. He started blogging in 2001, “a transformational moment” for him. He now works as a consultant and trainer in digital journalism, social media and content strategy, teaching classes such as Social Media & Audience Engagement for Editorial. Why he likes Micro.blog: Random glimpses into humanity all over the place, doing different things, living different lives – I think that’s a wonderful antidote for the polarization we see in many places now.”

This week, Jeannie McGeehan visits with Jean to talk about how she found Micro.blog (The New Yorker article), her Etsy store with handmade soaps made for shaving, how the Like button ruined social media, and her blogging journey.