If you’re on Mastodon, the open-source decentralized social network, you’ll notice a new feature highlighting journalism: author byline links.
Which currently means: when a Mastodon user shares a link to an article from The Verge, MacStories, or MacRumors, the author byline will directly link to the author’s associated active fediverse account.
Right in Mastodon.
Cool!
It’s a great boon for journalists/writers as well as folks like me who follow the news: makes it easy to follow authors and learn about their other articles.
What to Know About the Author Byline Feature
The new feature currently (as of July 2, 2024) displays author byline links on the main Mastodon server at mastodon.social or the official Mastodon app.
A few other things to know:
- It’s currently in use with three select organizations: The Verge, MacStories, and MacRumors
- Other Mastodon servers will need to support a recent Mastodon nightly release
- Links will only display on moderator-approved websites
- Doesn’t matter who posts the article, you’ll see the author byline
Support is provided for any fediverse account (not only Mastodon), including:
- PeerTube
- Pixelfed
- Threads
- WordPress (with ActivityPub plugin installed)
- Other fediverse accounts
Since Mastodon’s API supports author bylines, third-party apps can implement the feature in their future releases.
I’m hoping Tusky, the mobile app I use, implements the new feature soon!
How Does the Author Byline Link Work
Mastodon created a new OpenGraph tag, similar to the Open Graph tag used on websites to display thumbnail images of page previews.
The new tag can be added to websites with one line of code. Here’s the example used in Mastodon’s announcement post:
<meta name="fediverse:creator" content="@Gargron@mastodon.social" />where the new tag is fediverse:creator and content refers to a specific fediverse account.
While the author byline feature is only working on three sites now, I added the code to this site in preparation for when it’s available for personal sites and bloggers.
For WordPress Users
If you have a self-hosted WordPress site and want to be ready for Mastodon’s author bylines feature, you can add one line of code—customized with your fediverse account—using an SEO plugin.
I use the free All in One SEO plugin and added the line of code in All in One SEO > General Settings > Webmaster Tools > Miscellaneous Verification.
Folks on hosted WordPress.com can add the line of code using the add code to headers instructions.
Summary
The new author bylines feature in Mastodon is amazing, connecting readers to publication authors seamlessly.
Making it easy to follow and interact with journalists. As well as create a bigger audience for their work.
My personal opinion, after years of following, promoting, and supporting journalists on social media: I hope journalists create their own Mastodon account and join the fediverse.
