Substack Rival Ghost connects to the Open Social Web with its latest public release | Techcrunch

After months of beta tests, newsletter platform Ghost has sent A new version of its software, Ghost 6, with which his publishers can share their long -shaped content native with the wider open social web. This means that in addition to publishing their newsletters to the internet, RSS and them via E -mail send, Ghost’s users can also make native contact with services such as the decentralized X -rivalising mastodon; Meta’s wires; Flipboard; WordPress sites that are integrated with activitypub, surf and WriteFreely; And others.

While Ghost also mentions the ability to publish to Bluesky as part of this release, that is possible Through an integration with Bridgy Fed, a service that connects the open social web that is known as a fediverse with the person called the atmosphere. The first is powered by an open standard for decentralized social networks called Activityubwhile the latter works with the newer With protocol Used by Bluesky and other apps.

Manton ReeceThe founder of the publication platform Micro.blog, Be on the difference between His service and ghostNote that Micro.Blog has worked on immediately with protocolintegration while Ghost is used.

ActivityPub has long been used to provide electricity to open, decentralized social media applications. But in the years after Twitter’s acquisition by Elon Musk there was an increased interest in building with this protocol as competitors of Twitter (now X).

Meta launched its alternative to X in 2023 with Instagram -Threads, which X recorded on mobile devices. In the meantime, Blogplatform WordPress, including the hosted version WordPress.com, now offers the possibility to integrate with ActivityPub, allowing users to follow WordPress blogs on services such as Mastodon. Other apps are also integrated with the open social web, such as Flipboard’s flagship app and newer App Surf and Publishing Platform Medium.

Ghost also praised the potential network effects of connecting with activitypub, because it enables people to follow the messages from a Ghost Publisher on Federated Apps, and communicate with it by liking, answering or re -posting. This may broaden the reach of the publishers and expand their readers.

In addition, the users of Ghost can keep track of other long -form content in an “inbox” part of the software, where they can follow other articles published on Ghost or WordPress. In addition, publishers of Ghost’s Admin screen will have the opportunity to post short content on the Fediverse, so that they can grow their next and make contact with readers.

Ghost 6 arrives shortly after a shameful incident of his top competition, the newsletter platform replacement, that, that sent a push notification For users who encourage them to subscribe to a Nazi newsletter. Several authors have already replaced his decision to host such content in the past, including Casey Newton from Platformer, a popular technical publication. Other remarkable spirit publications involve 404 Media” ShipDavid Poor The lever” MazeJason Calacananis’s Inside, Sfist and others.

Although the integration of Activitypub is an important sales argument for Ghost 6, this large release includes a number of other changes and new additions. Remarkable, Ghost has now been sent A native analysis suite that follows performance and conversions on the internet, newsletters and subscriptions in real time.

The software also supports various payment methods, tips and donations, brand newsletters, content that can be personalized for individual readers and more.

With the release, ghost amended his prices for his pro (hosted) plans; The cheapest plans now start at $ 15 and $ 29 a month, an increase of $ 9 and $ 25 a month respectively. Ghost -publishers with a large number of subscribers will now see lower prices.