Posting to Mastodon via Shortcuts
The best thing to come out of Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase (and then backing out of the purchase, and then purchase, and then massive layoffs, and allowing crazies back on Twitter, and whatever happened today) is that Mastodon has been so much fun!
One extremely minor annoyance has been the lack of good Mastodon clients, and while TapBots is hard at work on that right now, it makes posting on Mastodon a little bit harder than it was on Twitter. Besides a nice native app, I really liked being able to fire off a short thought or joke from Alfred or the Spotlight search directly to Twitter and I miss that in my new Mastodon reality.
The solution? A quick Shortcut named “Post to Mastodon”
UPDATE 2: v2.2 is out. It can be downloaded here, and read about here.
UPDATE: There is now a v2 version of the this Shortcut that supports image uploads as well. I will leave the v1 links in place on this post, but you can check out the post for v2 or download v2 directly.
Clicking the above link (or the full screenshot below) will allow you install the shortcut on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone. It’s very simple, but it does the trick!
Once you install the Shortcut you will need to edit it to add two things:
- The domain of your Mastodon server.
- The access token for the app you will need to setup in your Mastodon preferences
Here’s how to set that up:
Go your Mastodon site in your browser. Click on Preferences > Development > New Application. Give you application a name like “Apple Posting Shortcut” and check “write:statuses” so that your key can create a post and nothing else. Click Submit Copy the “Your access token” text.
Once you save the shortcut with your domain and access token, you’re all set. You can then trigger it directly, or from Spotlight, etc. If you pass the shortcut text it will immediately post it to Mastodon and if you don’t pass it text, it will prompt you to enter message and push a notification that tells you if it worked or failed.
Here’s a full screenshot of the logic:
If you add something to it, find a bug, or just want to chat, I’d love to hear your thoughts: @[email protected]
Related Posts
Mike Masnick: Why Would Anyone Use Another Centralized Social Media Service After This?
If you haven’t been reading Tech Dirt, and specifically Mike Masnick’s post tracking the Twitter saga and what it shows about social media and content moderation in general, you have been missing out on some fantastic and thought provoking writing. Recently, Masnick is coming to the same conclusion that I am: I think federated social media (Mastodon, etc) might actually stick with the general public and if it does that would make things a lot better for everyone.
Read moreTesla Stock Suffers Worst Week Since 2020
Tesla Inc. shares Friday wrapped up their worst week since 2020, as Chief Executive Elon Musk sold billions in stock and faced a call from a prominent investor to step down from the helm of the electric-vehicle maker. The recent sales have seemed tied to Musk’s acquisition of the social-media platform Twitter, which he bought for roughly $44 billion this year.
Read moreThe Elon Twitter Train Wreck Continues
No one can keep up with the train wreck that is Twitter, and frankly I don’t want to. I did want to briefly comment on this item though: Twitter suspended the accounts of more than half a dozen journalists from CNN, the New York Times, The Washington Post and other outlets Thursday evening, as company owner Elon Musk accused the reporters of posting “basically assassination coordinates” for him and his family.
Read more