For Communities
Posted 2024-08-10 12:30 ‐ 5 min read
Social media is evolving, and the landscape is very different from five or ten years ago. New platforms like ATProtocol and ActivityPub1 have emerged, and existing platforms are scrambling to adapt 2 3. People and communities have bolder expectations around ownership of their data and a better understanding of how it is being monetized.
The same movement for a better social media experience will also push into social utilities like event management and user groups. That is where Smoke Signal comes into play.
Walled garden platforms like Facebook and Meetup are closed ecosystems where they control your activity and data. They impose limits and restrictions on what you do and, most relevantly, who you can engage with. This forces communities to commit to entering and staying in those closed-off systems.
Smoke Signal is radically different. When you create an event, the data is securely stored in your personal data server, giving you complete control. Smoke Signal is the tool to create and manage those events, but it respects your data ownership and preferences.
These features are possible because Smoke Signal is built on top of ATProtocol, a federated protocol and platform that gives you ownership and control of your data. Federated means that all ATProtocol applications can interact with personal data servers worldwide. Security, distribution, and data ownership are baked in.
For Community Organizers
ATProtocol is designed to be user-friendly, making it easy for you to create a handle for your organization and get started as a community organizer. The easiest way to jump in is to go to https://bsky.app/ and create an account for your community.
I organize a small group of Pokemon Go players in my community, Oakwood, Ohio. We casually gather for events in public areas with Pokemon Go stops and gyms, usually in parks or places of business.
I went to Bluesky and created the handle @daytonohtrainers.
Optionally, you can use your community's web domain as your handle. This can show people that your account is official.
Instructions: https://bsky.social/about/blog/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial
I have the domain dayton-pokemon.club and followed the instructions to make it my handle. Now my handle is @dayton-pokemon.club and posts that I make can be viewed at bsky.app/profile/dayton-pokemon.club.
The last step is to go to https://bsky.app/settings/app-passwords and create an app password to use with Smoke Signal. You can use Single Sign-On in the future, but it isn't available yet.
I visited app-password settings and generated a new application password for Smoke Signal. I copied the generated password into my password manager to use later.
Now you have everything you need to use Smoke Signal. Open up https://smokesignal.events/ and start creating events.
I went to Smoke Signal and logged in with "@dayton-pokemon.club" as the handle and the generated app password. I've created several events and can see them all on my profile at smokesignal.events/@dayton-pokemon.club.
Add your Smoke Signal profile URL to your social media profiles and websites. The URL is "https://smokesignal.events/" + your @handle.
For example, events created by the @smokesignal.events handle can be found here: https://smokesignal.events/@smokesignal.events
Creating and Sharing Events
Links to events include preview information to add to social media posts and applications like Slack and Discord.
I created a post for the event smokesignal.events/@dayton-pokemon.club/3kzeudn7toy2e.
When I view it, I can see a preview of the event and when it starts. bsky.app/profile/dayton-pokemon.club/post/3kzeukoolqx2o
There are several ways to share events. Viewing events is simple and unobtrusive on desktop browsers and mobile devices. People can also subscribe to your profile calendar to see all the events you create.
Group members who use the site can browse my events and RSVP as Interested, Going, or Not Going.
Group members who aren't on the ATProtocol platform can just as easily see all the events I create by subscribing to my event calendar in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or whatever calendar tool they use.
The subscribable calendar URL is at the bottom of my profile page.
No one is left behind or excluded.