@cliffwade That's kind of the Disney version of the story. Pebble wanted to be a commercial venture, couldn't achieve orbit and started a Mastodon instance to give their users a place to land.
#Streams galaxy
-- note 1: communication with the Fediverse is standard practice in this universe.
#Hubzilla galaxy
-- note 1: developed a way to communicate across the Mycelial Web (a.k.a. the multiverse). Can also communicate with BlueSky and diaspora.
#Friendica galaxy
-- note 1: developed a way to communicate across the Mycelial Web (a.k.a. the multiverse). Can also communicate with BlueSky and diaspora.
#X#Twitter Mycelium (closed borders; isolated; have not discovered there are other mycelium/universes besides their own)
#Tumblr Mycelium (closed borders; isolated; rumours has it their government decided against connecting with the other mycelium/universes, but they are aware)
#Flickr Mycelium (closed borders; isolated; aware of other mycelium/universes)
If you haven't been paying attention, It has been only barely 3 days since #Pebble closed its doors and many are moving to the #Fediverse and settling in over at https://pebble.social.
However, prior to that, when the announcement of the shutdown was first made, the first thing that happened was the creation and marketing of the hashtag #T2pub. The purpose of the hashtag was to make it easier to discover content from former #PebbleIs users, regardless of where in the fediverse you are located.
A few days later, the @t2pub was born. It is a fediverse #group. Anyone who is following the group is guaranteed to receive the latest T2pub group content shared by other users. As compared to the hashtag, it relies heavily on if the user was already discovered by an account's local instance.
Finally, pebble.social was born; and former Pebble users who migrated earlier to the Fediverse are moving to it.
Now, this is interesting because there is now a growing sub-community within the Fediverse network. Former #T2social users who primarily wish to interact with fellow former #T2 users; while, at the same time, keeping the lines open for interaction with the wider fediverse.
If we look at it from a #SciFi or #Fantasy or #ScienceFantasy perspective, if different star systems (for example Sol System) are the software, and the different planets (for example Planet Mars) are the instances; we've just witnessed migrants from the “Pebble Universe” after it collapsed.
These migrants found a planet of their own and called is Pebble.Social which is located in the Mastodon star system.
And those who landed on other planets are relocating to the Pebble.social Planet; however, as they are still settling in this new world and new universe, they are still primarily concerned on their own planet. Building it up. Setting up their communities.
For [mainline] #Mastodon users who want to be able to follow the “Local” and/or “Federated” timeline(s) of a different instance without creating yet another account can use the #Phanpy frontend.
More info:
There are 3 different layouts. In my screenshots, I used the multi-column layout to demonstrate how I'm seeing the different instances' “Local” and “Federated” timelines.
In addition to the above, you can also see the following features:
Auto-translate
Highlights
Threads
CW
Click to refresh (or scroll to top to refresh) -- a setting
Dark mode
Following 5 hashtags in one column (similar to Mastodon's default frontend)
Final thoughts from one of the founders of Pebble. Pebble was full of kind people. The hobbit shire of social media. And it wasn't enough. A good read.
"Being kinder and safer is not enough of a differentiator, because kindness and safety by themselves aren’t interesting enough. There was not enough interesting content on the platform for the experience to become a daily habit."
@bory Since you already have a Mastodon account, there's no need to create another one (unless you just really want pebble.social for your account name - which IS pretty cool!).
It looks like you haven't posted much yet so you could just move your current account over there if you want. (Let me know I can help with that process)
If you want to keep in touch with the Pebble community, you can follow/search for these hashtags:
@box464 thanks Jeff. I think I'll wait a little while before moving over. But definitely interested and not too precious about losing a few posts. Will know who to ask if I need help - thanks for offering!
If you are new to the #Fediverse network (inaccurately called #Mastodon network) and looking for end-user apps for mobile and desktop, check this #PublicDomain list:
@youronlyone I spent a long time trying different apps when I joined and ended up landing on #icecubes, it’s quite good and the only one I could find that properly maintained position and loaded new posts without shooting me up the timeline.
The new #SNS: #Pebble (formerly #T2#T2social) just announced that they are shutting down the free service this coming November 1st.
--start-of-quote--
The painful truth, however, is that we were not growing quickly enough for investors to believe that we will break out. Combine that with a crowded space of alternatives - and the uphill climb is even steeper. In order to continue to build out a complete Pebble, we would have needed more investment, and more time.
Huh. Most of these have suffered the same fate. It turns out a pale imitation of the original Titter, with a fraction of the features, a tiny sliver of the people, and none of the history isn't that attractive. Who could possibly have predicted that ; )