Notices by Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)

This is dramatic!

https://misskey.io is 4 users away from overtaking https://mastodon.online as the 6th largest server on the Fediverse!

At least according to FediDB:

https://fedidb.org/network

@fediversenews

So really, when people ask me, "What does #Calckey do that other microblogging platforms don't?"

The answer is: many things.

But also, Calckey is pretty much a microblog with a CMS.

Again, Twitter + WordPress = Calckey

A #Calckey server was just launched for the Greater Boston area! Check it out:

https://bostonsocial.online/

If you want to give the New York Yankees some grief, this might be your home in the Fediverse!

@fediversenews

The best way to explain #Calckey is to imagine what would happen if (pre-Elon) Twitter fell in love with WordPress and they had a baby.

That baby would be Calckey.

Twitter + WordPress = Calckey

Let me explain... 🧵

So like Twitter, #Calckey has a timeline feed. Multiple timeline feeds, in fact:

1. Home
2. Local
3. Social
4. Recommended
5. Global

It's got more feeds than Twitter. And you can make more of them through lists and antennas!

But Calckey is also like WordPress in that it has:

1. Cloud storage
2. Galleries
3. Widgets
4. Plug-ins
5. Webpages

You can customize the look and feel. And, like WordPress, there's lots of wonderful admin tools!

Twitter + WordPress = Calckey

Again, this feed is Twitter-like -- but more futuristic, in my opinion.

If you are coming from Twitter, this should look very familiar to you.

Now this is how #Calckey gets more WordPress-like because -- just like WordPress -- everyone who has a Calckey account can customize their theme.

And by customize, I don't merely mean select from a predetermined set of themes.

No do I just mean you can install one.

You can make your own Calckey theme!

You can make a Calckey theme both from a colour picker or through code!

This is very much like WordPress.

Another way #Calckey is like #WordPress: widgets!

That's right, you can add your own widgets to Calckey's dashboard.

As you can see in this dashboard, there's quite a few to choose from:

* Sticky notes
* Notifications
* Calendar
* User list
* RSS reader

And much, much more!

Calckey is definitely for microblogging -- but it's also kind of a CMS too!

Another way #Calckey is similar to #WordPress is the cloud storage options.

Yes, like #Twitter, Calckey can store photos and videos.

But like WordPress, Calckey can also host documents, audio, and even zip files on your drive!

How cool is that?

See screenshot.

The next prominent feature of #Calckey is chat.

Now I can't show you this exactly because that's private 😉

However, what's important to know is that this is distinct from Mastodon DMs, it's isolated from the main feed, and there's no mistaking chats for status updates.

This looks like a chat app.

So far, so good. You see #Calckey's timeline for microblogging.

Let's now look at notifications.

Notifications can be displayed for

* All
* Unread
* Mentions
* Direct mentions

You can also filter your notifications by:

* New followers
* Boosts
* Quotes
* Reactions
* And many more!

Here's a screenshot what the notification nav bar looks like in mobile mode.

Here's a look at #Calckey in mobile mode.

The top displays different feeds.

The bottom has a navbar with a hamburger menu, home, notifications, chat, and widgets.

This can be installed as a progressive web app to your phone by "adding to Home screeen" when you visit a Calckey site.

Let's first take a look at what #Calckey looks like in desktop mode.

As you can see, it's got a very media-rich presentation of a feed.

But there's also more!

On the right pane are some widgets. You can customize which widgets you see there. I opted to see trending hashtags and recent notifications.

On the left pane is the navbar. I'll get into that in a bit.

At the top are different feeds including home, local, social, recommended, global, lists, and antennaes.

Yet another killer aspect of #Calckey is the Explore section. This is for content discovery -- finding people ("Users") to follow and posts that are gaining traction ("Featured").

Let's focused on the Users aspect of Explore. It helps you find users according to:

* Pinned (a.k.a., recommended)
* Popular
* Recently Active
* Newly Joined Users

There's all sorts of people to follow through the Explore section of Calckey

Today is the day I talk about what #Calckey is and what it does. 🧵

In this thread, I will explore what I believe to be the most important features of Calckey.

SPOILER ALERT: While Calckey focuses on microblogging, that's where its similarities with #Mastodon (and #Twitter) end.

@fediversenews

The "Featured" portion of Explore shows the most popular posts divided into two options:

* Local: what's popular on your local #Calckey server
* Remote: what's popular across the Fediverse

This is excellent for finding stuff that already has lots of conversation so you can join in.

In this post, you may have noticed lots of emoji reactions. Interestingly, some of these emojis are animated too.

To many people, this is the most compelling reason to use Calckey as this is a feature that's unsupported by Mastodon or Twitter.

Let's now talk about search on #Calckey.

To be bluntly honest, Fediverse search needs a lot of work. I don't think one server software nails it yet.

However, unlike Mastodon, Calckey allows you to search across the Fediverse without need of hashtags (or for you to have interacted with the post previously).

This makes search a lot more extensible than on Mastodon.

Click this link to see it in action:

https://calckey.social/search?q=notifications

Also see screenshot.

If you like Facebook Groups, #Calckey has something similar. They are called "Channels".

Currently, they are localized to each Calckey server, but there are plans to federate them across the Fediverse.

Posts to channels (but not channels themselves) can be broadcast across the Fediverse.

This is one big difference between Calckey and Mastodon.

Here's a "Music Recommendations" channel on https://calckey.social.

Like Twitter and Mastodon, #Calckey supports bookmarks. These are a private means to save posts to review at a later date.

Bookmarks are easily accessible through the navbar.