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Tumblr’s ‘fediverse’ integration is still being worked on, says owner and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg

Published

6 months ago

February 18, 2024

Tumblr's 'fediverse' integration is still being worked on, says owner and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg

Despite delays, the plan to connect Tumblr’s blogging site to the wider world of decentralized social media, also known as the “fediverse,” is still on, it seems. Over a year ago, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg — whose company acquired Tumblr from Verizon in 2019 — posted on Twitter that the site would “soon” add support for ActivityPub, the protocol powering Twitter/X rival Mastodon and other decentralized social apps. But as time lapsed since that pronouncement, it wasn’t clear if Tumblr was still moving in that direction.

To complicate matters further, Tumblr recently cut a number of staff, relocating many to other projects within its parent company Automattic, which runs WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Pocket Casts and more, including the recently acquired Texts.com. The re-org was meant to ease the financial pressures Tumblr has been under, as the site continued to lose money. But it also led many fediverse advocates to wonder if Tumblr’s plans to join the world of decentralized social media had also been scrapped.

In addition, a post by a Tumblr employee seemed to indicate the project was now on the back burner as they said the fediverse plan had been moved to Tumblr’s testing grounds, Tumblr Labs.

Now, CEO Matt Mullenweg is clearing up the status of Tumblr’s fediverse ambitions in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) shared on his own Tumblr blog. In response to a question from TechCrunch, Mullenweg explained that despite the re-org, which will see many Tumblr employees move to other projects at the end of the year, Automattic did switch someone over to Tumblr to work on the fediverse integration, which will continue in the new year. (Later, in remarks made at the State of the World, event, he alluded to a “team” that would be working on fediverse explorations at Tumblr).

Still, Mullenweg cautioned that, so far, Automattic hadn’t yet seen outsized user demand for federated social media.

“The Activity Pub and Friends plugins for WordPress are both from Automatticians, and have allowed us space to play in this space and understand the community and protocols, and also gauge user demand,” Mullenweg wrote. “Right now both have under ten thousand users, so there hasn’t been a big user push for this yet,” he noted.

But he said that folks will “dig into Tumblr’s codebase” to see what it can do about moving forward with federation.

Reading between the lines, it seems the company isn’t ready to place a full bet on ActivityPub — though Mullenweg generally supports a more open internet.

“I remain a huge believer in open standards and user freedom, though I don’t claim to have the truth on which particular standard is better or best, to serve our customers we will support everything we can in good faith to give users more freedom, choice, and avoid lock-in,” he also said in his AMA. (Mullenweg told us earlier in the year the company was also evaluating other protocols, like Bluesky’s AT Protocol and nostr, for what it’s worth).

Though Mastodon today only has around 1.5 million monthly active users, ActivityPub is seeing more momentum as of late — especially now that Instagram Threads, another Twitter/X competitor, is pledging integration with the fediverse. Many in the community expect that to arrive in the early part of 2024. In the meantime, Threads users are able to verify their profile on Mastodon as an initial step. Other startups, like the Mozilla-backed app Mammoth and indie apps like Ivory, have also launched to make the fediverse more approachable for newcomers, while companies like Flipboard and Medium have embraced Mastodon, too. That could give Tumblr a needed push in 2024 to determine if ActivityPub is worth its time, and whether or not it will make technological sense to bring Tumblr blogs to Mastodon.

In other words, even though there’s work being done on Tumblr’s fediverse integrations, it’s far from being a done deal at this time.

In another AMA response, Mullunweg also noted that a larger effort to migrate Tumblr’s half a billion blogs to WordPress on the backend is something he’s also contemplating in the new year.

“We will tackle it, but I’m not sure when,” the exec said.

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Introducing Write Brief with AI (Beta) – WordPress.com News

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13 hours ago

August 7, 2024

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Introducing Write Brief with AI (Beta) – WordPress.com News

From the team at Jetpack AI comes a new tool that will improve your writing in a flash.

Noam Almosnino

At WordPress.com, writing isn’t just a task. It’s how we think. Automattic is a globally distributed company, which means our work is almost always done asynchronously. For us, written communication is oxygen. But that communication is not built around email. Instead we use a homegrown internal blogging tool. Since every piece of our writing lives as a blog post that will stay published and searchable forever, we need to write clearly and succinctly.

The team at Jetpack AI started wondering if there was a writing tool that could help everyone at Automattic, from right inside the WordPress editor. Rather than search externally, we built one. And today we’re excited to share it with you. Say hello to Write Brief with AI from Jetpack.

Meet Write Brief with AI

Internally, we called this tool Breve—Latin for “brief.” It started as a hack week project and caught on across the entire company. In fact, we saw just how useful and beloved it quickly became and decided to release it into the world. Write Brief with AI is available for free (while in beta) for all WordPress.com plans and users.

What can Write Brief with AI do?

Measure readability. Check how readable your writing is with a simple grade score. Our research shows you should aim for a score of 8-12 for the highest readability. (The lower the number, the better.) The tool calculates your score as you type.
Tell you about long-winded sentences. Long sentences tire readers. Write Brief with AI highlights those examples so you can break them down. You can even ask Jetpack AI to simplify them for you.
Boost your confidence. Writing needs to be strong and clear. This tool highlights words that sound uncertain, like “possibly,” “might,” or “could.” Replace them with more assertive alternatives to make your point confidently. Or, ask Jetpack AI to remove them for you with one click.
Simplify your vocabulary. Complex words can bog down your message. The tool highlights complex words like the ones found in plainlanguage.gov and suggests simpler alternatives, keeping your writing clear and direct.

Seamless WordPress.com integration

Write Brief with AI works right within the WordPress editor, handling blocks, nested blocks, patterns, and more. It’s an editing tool built to streamline your writing process directly in your familiar workspace. Write, edit, blog, directly from WordPress.

Simply click the Jetpack icon on the top right of your screen, and Write Brief with AI will get to work based on what’s check or unchecked in the sidebar.

We’re just getting started

We’re constantly improving and refining our platform based on your feedback. Write Brief with AI is just one step in our journey to make writing with WordPress even better. We’re excited for you to join us in this new chapter. Try it out in the post or page editor today and let us know what you think. Or click below to learn more.

For this release, Write Brief with AI is available exclusively in English. We’re working hard to expand language support in future updates.

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Top WooCommerce Website Development in Chennai

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1 day ago

August 7, 2024

Max

Top WooCommerce Website Development in Chennai

WooCommerce website development refers to the process of creating and designing online stores using WooCommerce, an open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. WooCommerce is a highly popular and versatile solution that allows businesses to set up and manage their e-commerce operations effectively.

WooCommerce website development enables businesses to create, customise and manage their e-commerce presence efficiently, leveraging the power of WordPress and the flexibility of WooCommerce to reach their online sales goals.

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WooCommerce Stock API: How to Manage Stock with Ease

Published

2 days ago

August 6, 2024

Max

Published 5 August 2024 | Updated 5 August 2024 | Khrystyna Oliinyk

In the fast-paced world of eCommerce, stock management is critical to the smooth running of the business and the satisfaction of the consumers. For eCommerce software vendors, the problem is even more complicated when it comes to stock management across different channels. The WooCommerce Stock API offers a solid approach to efficiently controlling WooCommerce stock through APIs.

This article focuses on the WooCommerce Stock API, its features, integration issues, and how API2Cart can help manage WooCommerce stock.

WooCommerce API Specifics

WooCommerce, being the most used eCommerce plugin in WordPress, is generally very flexible and has all the requirements one may need. Another important aspect is the availability of the REST API that allows the developers to integrate with the platform through the code. WooCommerce API is split into various endpoints that are used for various functions of the store, such as products, orders, customers and stock.

Key Characteristics of WooCommerce API

Versatility of Endpoints: The WooCommerce API includes everything important for managing an eCommerce business. Whether you want to control products, work with orders, or deal with customers’ information, there is an endpoint for that.

HTTP Methods: The API supports GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE methods to perform CRUD operations to create, read, update, and delete data. This flexibility enables developers to carry out a number of activities.

Authentication: Security is important to WooCommerce. The API uses OAuth 1.0a or API keys for authentication to control access to the store data.

Extendability: WooCommerce API was developed with the possibility of being easily integrated with other systems. It allows developers to create their own endpoints and functionalities that will suit their business needs, hence making it a very useful tool in business.

What is WooCommerce Stock API?

WooCommerce Stock API is a specific part of WooCommerce REST API that is dedicated to stock management. It offers RESTful APIs for handling stock information of the products; this allows developers to get, set, and monitor the stock of products. This API is especially beneficial for eCommerce software providers who require real-time stock information across multiple channels and locations.

Features of WooCommerce Stock API

Retrieve Stock Levels: With the help of the API, developers can retrieve the current stock levels of specific products or their variations and be sure that the information is up to date.

Update Stock Levels: The API also supports updating of stock based on sales, returns or even manual changes to ensure stock data is up to date.

Track Stock Changes: Developers can track stock changes through the API to identify variations in the stock and trends or problems encountered.

WooCommerce Integration Challenges

When eCommerce software vendors choose to integrate with eCommerce platforms, including WooCommecre individually, they may face the following challenges:

Complex Process

All the shopping carts are different and have their own particular structure and specifics, which takes time to discover. APIs of shopping platforms are different and developers need to comprehend these differences which can be a tiresome process. The difficulty rises as the number of platforms grows, which also complicates the integration process.

Necessity of a Competent Specialist

Improper integration with APIs can cause many customer issues and losses. Therefore, a competent specialist who can develop and support these integrations is needed. However, it is challenging and expensive to identify and hire such a developer.

Integrations Require Time

One integration can take a minimum of a month to create. Each integration is different and comes with its own needs and issues to be solved. This implies that the time that is taken in the development of integration increases with the number of platforms that you wish to integrate with. For companies that have to work with several eCommerce platforms, this can lead to increased time and effort expenditures.

Integrations are Costly

Each integration is at least a few thousand dollars. This includes not only the development cost but also the cost of maintenance and support in the future. For companies that want to connect with multiple platforms, these costs can be quite cumulative and affect the total expenses and revenues.

Further Integration Maintenance

The integration is not over when you complete it. It requires constant improvement and maintenance work. Most of the eCommerce platforms are dynamic, and they change the API, introduce new features or alter the existing ones at regular intervals. This means that there has to be a constant check and modification on the integration. Once again, it will take time and money because the IT department will have to work on the integration process.

How to Easily Manage WooCommerce Stock?

Due to the challenges in integration development, the use of a unified API integration solution like API2Cart is highly recommended. API2Cart is a service that allows integrating with several eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, etc., via a single API. It helps in the easy management of stock across various platforms and channels.

Key Benefits of Using API2Cart for WooCommerce Stock Management

Unified API

API2Cart allows software vendors to connect to multiple eCommerce platforms via a single API. This minimizes the problem of dealing with multiple APIs because you only need to interact with a single interface.

Real-Time Synchronization

API2Cart provides real time synchronization of stock across all the connected channels to ensure that the stock levels are always updated. This guarantees that there are no stock outs and/or overselling since the information on stock is always updated.

Scalability

API2Cart is highly scalable and can manage a few stores or hundreds of them. It manages API requests well, so your solution will not be affected even during high-traffic periods.

Comprehensive Documentation and Support

API2Cart has comprehensive documentation and helps developers integrate and use the service without any problems.

API2Cart API Methods for Managing Stock on WooCommerce

API2Cart provides a number of API methods for managing stock in WooCommerce. These methods allow managing various aspects of inventory, which helps avoid problems and keep stock under control.

Add Product Stock: You can add new products in the WooCommerce store with the product.add method.

Update Product Stock: With the help of the product update method, you can update the stock quantity of the products already in stock. This is important for showing the current status of the inventory, which changes with each sale, return, or manual update.

Get Stock: The product.list or product.info methods offer up-to-date information on the stock situation, enabling businesses to avoid stockouts or overstocking.

Track Stock Changes: The order.list method or order.add webhook allow to check on the changes in the stock levels in real-time.

Delete Product Stock: Product.delete method allows to delete the products that are no longer available or are out of stock. This is useful in maintaining a clean and updated inventory data base.

Thus, utilizing these API2Cart methods, eCommerce software owners can control WooCommerce stock in the best possible way and effectively maintain stock levels in all sales channels. This integration process is made easier, thus saving time and effort and enabling the business to concentrate on its main tasks.

Conclusion

One of the most critical factors of the eCommerce business is stock control, especially for software suppliers who operate on several platforms. In terms of stock management, the WooCommerce Stock API is great; however, developing an integration with the WooCommerce API in general is not easy. API2Cart is the unified API solution that allows users to avoid all the mentioned problems and offers real-time data access, easy extensibility, and secure connection to several e-commerce platforms.

Hence, through API2Cart, eCommerce software developers can easily control the WooCommerce stock to meet their clients’ needs. Whether you have a few stores or a huge number of sales channels, API2Cart will be helpful for you.

For more information on how API2Cart can help you manage WooCommerce stock, visit API2Cart. We provide a 30-day free trial period, so you can test the service and see how it can help you solve your busines needs.

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