If you have not heard of Mastodon and/or BlueSky, then you are missing out… a lot! Yes, by now, Mastodon and BlueSky are two of the more popular decentralized social networks today. Yes, there is Nostr, but I am not a fan of this blockchain based social network. There is also Meta's Threads, a Twitter alternative that leverages on Instagram's social graph and federates to Mastodon. Mastodon and BlueSky remain my preferred social networks.
Mastodon and BlueSky use two different protocols, ActivityPub and ATProto respectively, which does not interoperate, nor federate. However, there is currently a free, open source software project that bridges these two social networks. Until the bridge gains traction, or both protocols allow for federation with each other, users will need to have different accounts to participate on each social network.
Currently, Mastodon has the advantage in the mobile client application space, with several free and non-free applications on both iOS App Store and Google's Play Store. BlueSky, on the other hand, has its official app as the main mobile client. Both, of course, can be accessed via the browser, unlike some other social networks out there.
For those like me, who is on both Mastodon and BlueSky, I use two different mobile applications, in addition to using the browser. Two different timelines, two different mobile applications or two different browser tabs, to keep up with the posts. Posting is another matter. You post on one and then post the same on another. This is where an app or service that allows you to post once and get it cross-posted across different social networks is ideal.
I use two different methods of cross-posting. The first one is via Micro.blog, and the other via my Shortcuts. Micro.blog allows posts to be cross-posted on multiple social networks, in fact, it is THE place to be for those who wish to have their blog post (micro or long form) cross-posted to different social networks. Micro.blog allows one account per social network, e.g. Mastodon, BlueSky, and Nostr, which works for most, but not for me. I have two accounts (personal and professional) on both Mastodon and BlueSky. To post on different accounts, I created a Shortcut that will allow me to select which accounts to cross-post to.
Enter Openvibe, a mobile app that consolidates your Mastodon, BlueSky and Nostr timelines and allow for cross-posting. Threads support is currently being developed.
On-boarding is simple - just add your accounts and you are off. You get a consolidated timeline (Following) from the different social networks, in my case, BlueSky and Mastodon. There is a Trending tab, also a consolidation. And a tab for each, Mastodon and BlueSky, just in case. Posting provides you with option to select where your post will go.
Openvibe provides the basic functionality to consolidate your timelines from different decentralized social networks, and to write-once-post-many. It is still version 1 (currently 1.2.1) and will only improve moving forward. I wish that the main consolidated timeline display shows the source (maybe an icon to identify the source social network), add support for multiple Mastodon, BlueSky, etc. accounts, support for selecting Mastodon lists and BlueSky feeds to display, and support for posting options for Mastodon and BlueSky. So until then, I'm remaining on my usual tools, i.e., Micro.blog, dedicated applications and web browsing, and my Shortcuts, but I am closely monitoring Openvibe for new features.