Twitter/X alternative Mastodon appeals to journalists with new ‘byline’ feature

Mastodon Rolls Out New Feature to Boost Exposure for Journalists

Mastodon, the open-source, decentralized alternative to X (formerly Twitter), is introducing a new feature aimed at enhancing the user experience for individuals who rely on the platform to stay informed about news and journalistic content. This latest update, which goes live on Tuesday, includes clickable author bylines on link posts that can lead Mastodon users directly to the author’s account on the fediverse, providing journalists with increased visibility and the opportunity to expand their audience.

Unlike the conventional @username references commonly found in link posts shared by news outlets and blogs, Mastodon’s new bylines feature the news publication’s headline and image followed by the author’s profile photo and name, offering a more comprehensive attribution.

The feature is currently being rolled out to selected news publishers such as The Verge, MacStories, and MacRumors, with plans for DailyTech to follow suit soon.

To access these new bylines, users must access the mastodon.social server either through the web or the official mobile app. For users on other Mastodon servers, the feature requires support for the latest Mastodon nightly release and approval from moderators.

Mastodon confirms that third-party apps will also be able to integrate the new bylines through its API, ensuring broader compatibility.

Behind the scenes, the feature relies on a new OpenGraph tag developed by Mastodon, which simplifies the process of including author information in link previews shared across various platforms, including Mastodon, iMessage, and Discord.

The tag format is as follows: ‘‘, making it straightforward to implement on websites.

Notably, the tag can link to any fediverse account, not limited to Mastodon, extending its utility to platforms like Flipboard, Threads, and Pixelfed.

While the current implementation only supports a single author per byline, Mastodon hints at potential updates to cater to co-authorship scenarios in the future.

In the coming weeks, Mastodon plans to propose a specification draft to extend this functionality to other ActivityPub platforms.

By leveraging this new tag, journalists can tap into the extensive user base of the fediverse, comprising over 10 million users across various platforms, including Mastodon with 804,000 monthly active users.