Comparison of microblogging and similar services

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The tables below compare general and technical information for some notable active microblogging services, and also social network services that have status updates.

Contents

General information

ServiceOwnerLaunchedPrimary serviceSoftware licenseContent licenseMultilingualAd-free
Bluesky Open source2021-10-21 social network MIT own TOS19Yes
Diaspora Open source2010-11 social network AGPLv3-or-later [1] AGPLv3 31 [2] Yes
Facebook Meta [3] 2004-02-04 social network Proprietary own TOS112No
Friendica Open source2010-07 social network AGPLv3-or-laterown TOSYesYes
GNU social Open source2010-03-03 microblogging AGPLv3-or-later [4] CC BY 3.070 [5] Yes
identi.ca Open source2008-07-02 [6] microblogging Apache v2 (pump.io) CC BY 3.0YesYes
Mastodon Open source2016-10 [7] microblogging AGPLv3-or-later [8] own TOS93 [9] Yes
Micro.blog Riverfold Software2017-04-24 microblogging Mixed [10] [11] MixedYesYes
Movim Open source2011-03 social network AGPLv3-or-later [12] [13] AGPLv3 59 [14] Yes
Steam communityValve Corporation2003-09-12 Proprietary own TOS28 [15] Yes
Tout Tout 2010-04 [16] microblogging Proprietary own TOSYesYes
Tumblr Automattic 2007 microblogging Proprietary own TOSYesNo
Twister Open source2013-12-30 microblogging MIT & BSD own TOS2:en,ruYes
Weibo Sina Corporation 2009-08 microblogging Proprietary own TOSYesNo
Viva Engage Yammer, Inc.2008-09 [17] microblogging Proprietary own TOSYesYes
X (Twitter) X Corp. [18] 2006-08 microblogging Proprietary own TOSYesNo

Features

An overview of integral features. Extras may be provided by third party applications/services, but are not listed here.

Service Tagging [Note 1] GroupsConversation [Note 2] Private [Note 3] Private following list RSS Atom Bookmarklet
Facebook YesYesYesYes ?No [19] NoNo
Friendica YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes [20]
GNU social YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes [21]
Mastodon YesNoYesYesYesYesYesYes [22]
Micro.blog YesNoYesNo ?YesNoNo
Movim YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Steam communityYesYesYesYesYes ? ? ?
Tumblr YesNoNoYesYesYesNoYes [23] [24]
Weibo YesYesYesYesYesNoNoNo
X (Twitter) YesYesYesYesYesNo [25] No [25] Yes [26]
  1. Tagging in micro-blogging services is often done with hashtags.
  2. The ability to see whole conversation (multiple replies) on one flat page.
  3. If this service has the ability to hide posts from the general public.

Posting and reading

Communication methods supported by the services. Extras may be provided by third party applications/services, but are not listed here.

ServicePost viaRead via
Web XMPP Email SMS API Micropub Web XMPP Email SMS API Feed ActivityPub
Facebook YesNoYes [27] YesYesNoYesNoYes [28] YesYesNoNo
Friendica YesNoNoNoYesNoYesNoNoNoYesYesYes
GNU social YesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Mastodon YesNoNoNoYesNoYesNoNoNoYesYesYes
Micro.blog YesYesNoNoYesYesYesYesYes [29] NoYesYesYes
Movim YesYesNoNoYes ?YesYesNoNoYesYesNo
X (Twitter) YesNoNoYesYesNoYesNoNoYesYesYesNo

See also

Related Research Articles

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pump.io Decentralized social network and protocol

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ActivityPub</span> Decentralized social networking protocol

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misskey</span> Federated social networking service

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