A brand new app known as Tapestry, which launched Tuesday, aggregates and organizes data from throughout the online and social networks in a single place. It’s, in some methods, like this technology’s FriendFeed, for these sufficiently old to recollect the sooner try from the Net 2.0 period to mixture feeds and social media updates in a single vacation spot for discovery and dialogue.
However whereas FriendFeed inspired discussions on-site, constructing a social community of its personal — and finally attracting an acquisition by Fb — Tapestry works higher as a reader.
The issue the app addresses is one which’s changing into extra frequent because the open social net grows: In an effort to sustain, individuals have to make use of tons of companies and achieve this a lot app-switching.
Amid a flurry of growth that features the rising social networks Bluesky and Mastodon, designed to rival the tech giants with open supply software program and decentralized energy buildings, there may be additionally the problem of maintaining with associates and followers who’ve now scattered throughout quite a few locations after leaving X’s and Meta’s platforms.
Addressing this downside is Tapestry’s important draw however this might, in the intervening time, additionally restrict the app’s attraction past the early-adopter crowd.
A unified app
At this time, most individuals have already got processes, workflows, and most well-liked apps they use to maintain up with information websites, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube movies from favourite creators. Tapestry proposes to vary that. It gives a single place to verify for these updates alongside these from different social networks it’s possible you’ll use, like Bluesky, Mastodon, Tumblr, and others.
Constructed by the crew that designed one of many unique third-party Twitter purchasers, Twitterrific, Tapestry proposes to introduce a brand new sort of timeline, very like Twitter’s, the place all updates scroll by. There are additionally further, extra superior instruments you should use to configure that timeline — like choosing which content material to mute and which to “muffle,” or collapse — so you possibly can decide to view it if desired whereas limiting display area.
The latter can be utilized to enhance each the aesthetics and the vibe of your timeline. As an illustration, it’s possible you’ll need to muffle political subjects in order that they don’t overwhelm your display as you scroll or muffle spoilers of your favourite TV exhibits.
After including the social accounts, RSS feeds, blogs, podcasts, and extra that you just need to view inside Tapestry, you possibly can then arrange your timeline, in addition to further timelines, providing a customized view of this data. As an illustration, you could possibly have a timeline centered solely on Apple information, blogs, and podcasts, or one on your social networks, like Bluesky and Mastodon.
To get the most effective use out of Tapestry, you’ll have to provide quite a lot of thought to the kind of data and updates you need to monitor and the way you’d prefer to see them organized. Viewing every little thing in a single feed will be noisy due to all of the social app updates. Your timelines are primarily Tapestry’s model of customized feeds (much like Bluesky’s feeds, however with the flexibility to drag from a number of companies, not only one). Meaning you’ll be within the job of feed creator, not simply client — not less than till a extra strong developer ecosystem arrives.
Feeds and Connectors
Whereas it seems like Tapestry is making an attempt to scratch an itch that open social net early adopters could now have, its aggregation of all of your content material into timelines can really feel overcomplicated at occasions, and a few of its person interface decisions want extra polish.
As an illustration, Tapestry defaults to opening feeds in-app whenever you select the choice to “open unique” from the “extra” (three-dot) menu on particular person posts.
Additionally, tucking away the flexibility to interact with the unique content material with an additional faucet doesn’t make this the most effective app for individuals who prefer to shortly take part in social conversations as they scroll. If you happen to open objects in-app, you’ll have to log in to the social community to interact. You’ll probably need to set this to open feeds in “Safari” so Tapestry opens the related iOS app immediately (like Bluesky) the place you possibly can like, reply, or repost.
Sadly, which means Tapestry isn’t actually fixing the necessity to keep a number of accounts throughout a number of apps.
One other design alternative that may very well be complicated includes the app’s two sections the place you possibly can add sources. One known as “Feeds” and one other known as “Connectors.” The previous helps you to add “content material that seems in your timeline,” and the latter is supposed to “create feeds that populate your timeline.” (If you happen to’re scratching your head at these descriptions, you’re not alone. The app wants to supply extra of an evidence.)
Because it seems, Connectors are supposed to work extra like plug-ins or add-ons. They run in a JavaScript sandbox and will likely be constructed by a group of third-party builders who need to lengthen the Tapestry ecosystem with new feeds of their very own. Sadly, these Connectors can’t embody sources like Fb, Instagram, X, or others that don’t supply open feeds.
An extensible app is a intelligent thought however one that might have been pushed additional down the challenge’s roadmap. Initially, the crew ought to give attention to testing the premise that customers need to view data from throughout the online, not simply the social net, as “timelines” within the first place. Do customers need RSS, podcasts, social media, and different companies blended, as an alternative of utilizing separate apps?
A transitional step or the long run?
Tapestry isn’t the one one which’s occupied with placing customers in command of their feeds and sources for information and knowledge.
Newer social apps like Bluesky and even Meta’s Threads launched the idea of customized feeds, whereas startups like Graze supply superior feed-building instruments, and Flipboard launched a brand new app known as Surf for constructing customized feeds from throughout companies. Not like Tapestry’s, Surf’s person interface helps you to view feeds that may be filtered to be seen in several codecs — watch, learn, or hear — or you possibly can decide to see every little thing mixed into one, relying on which tab you choose.
Different apps like Feeeed and Reeder have additionally emerged to deal with comparable points round feed consumption.
One downside these options goal to deal with is that immediately’s open social networks work on completely different protocols. Mastodon, Pixelfed, and others use ActivityPub, and Bluesky and a rising variety of purchasers are constructing on its underlying protocol, AT Protocol. In the meantime, older information websites, blogs, and podcasts distribute their updates throughout the open protocol RSS.
At present, bridges are being constructed to attach networks like Bluesky and Mastodon, social apps like Threads are integrating with ActivityPub, whereas WordPress blogs and publication platforms like Ghost are working to affix the open social net often known as the fediverse, by way of ActivityPub.
That leaves us in a transitional interval the place you possibly can’t simply decide your most well-liked app and count on to see all of it.
As an alternative, we’re being given instruments to mix feeds and sources nevertheless we see match. However a few of these efforts really feel like short-term measures as a brand new, extra open web — the place every little thing ultimately connects — continues to be being constructed.
