Webmention.io is a hosted service created to easily receive web mentions on any web page.
# How: Use it on your site
Once you have signed up, add the following tags to your HTML, replacing “username” with the username you got when you signed up:
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The system will begin collecting web mentions and pingbacks on your behalf. Of course, you can leave off the pingback endpoint if you’d like.
Note that the “username” here will most likely be your domain. For instance, if your domain is https://aaronparecki.com/, then your username will be aaronparecki.com.
# Example:
# Nice implementations
# Bridgy and Microformats for Webmentions
Bridgy is a service that connects your website to social networks by sending webmentions between them. For it to automatically poll your social media accounts (like Bluesky) without manual intervention, your website needs to implement specific microformat tags.
I used that for fetching my webmentions and comments from Bluesky. Below some relevant tags I had to add. This documentation is based on Brid.gy documentation (linked at the end).
The primary microformat tags needed for Bridgy to work with your second brain - h-entry etc.:
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- h-entry: Marks a note/post as a distinct piece of content that Bridgy can identify and track.p-name: Helps Bridgy identify the title of your post.dt-published: Provides the publication timestamp, which Bridgy uses to order responses chronologically.p-author h-card: Identifies you as the author of the content.e-content: Defines the main content area of your post.u-syndication: (Optional) Creates a direct link between your website post and its corresponding social media post.
# Relevant Link for Website
When you have many notes like in a second brain, you don’t need to add syndication links to every note. Instead:
Ensure your Bluesky profile links to your website
Add h-feed to list/index pages:
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Add syndication links only to important notes that you specifically share on social media
# How Bridgy’s Automatic Polling Works
- Bridgy checks your social network accounts periodically (typically every 30 minutes).If you’ve been signed up for over a week with no successful webmentions sent, or if the last webmention was over a month ago, polling decreases to once a day.To maintain frequent polling:
- Ensure your social profile links to your websiteConsistently post content that generates responsesWhen posting to social media, include links back to your website
# Setting Up Bridgy for Bluesky
- Sign up at brid.gyConnect your Bluesky accountEnable “Listen” for backfeed (to receive interactions from Bluesky)Optionally enable “Publish” if you want to cross-post
# Troubleshooting Automatic Polling
If automatic polling isn’t working:
- Check for a ⚠️ icon on your Bridgy user page, which indicates lost accessClick “Poll now” once to restart the automatic polling processMake sure some of your notes have correct h-entry markupVerify your Bluesky profile links to your website
# Additional Resources
This setup allows Bridgy to automatically poll your Bluesky account and discover interactions with your content without manual intervention, making it practical for large collections of notes like your second brain.
Origin: Webmentions in Blogs
References: IndieWeb, My Webmention.io
Created 2023-04-05
