These are some notes on a Twitter-like microblogging service built on top of RemoteStorage . Besides duplicating Twitter functionality on a distributed platform, this also allows the control and ownership of content that RemoteStorage applications provide.
The first time someone uses it, the app (a simple HTML page + Javascript) creates a directory under /public that stores status updates ( There may even be an existing Category that is appropriate) perhaps under /public/status . Additionally, there is another, private, object stored that holds a list of people you follow.
After initial setup the app polls all the /public/status directories of all the people in the “following” list (perhaps within a certain timeframe) and merges them into a timeline for display purposes.
Mentions could work just like Twitter by mentioning the full RS (webfinger?) name of someone (ie jjg@5apps.com).
Discovery of other users is a bit trickier (following requires knowledge of other users public address). This may not necessarily be an issue though since intrinsic discovery mechanisms (especially the semi-forced kind) are one of the downsides of Twitter as far as I’m concerned.
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// jjg