Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is one step closer to the version 1.0
Apr 15, 2009 by Mircea Goia MyTestBox News
Twitter is all the rage these days (it reached even The Colbert Report – a well known US comedy show).
As almost all successful things, Twitter could not escape cloning. They are several services out there Twitter like Jaiku, Presently and Plurk being some of them ((see a longer list of clones here )
But those are web services and that means if you want to actually build one like that you would have to code it yourself.
Here comes Laconica to the rescue. Laconica is the open source microblogging web software which can help in build a web service Twitter like (it helps people in a community, company or group to exchange short – 140 character – messages over the web).
One of the biggest implementation of this software is seen at identi.ca (other implementations can be seen in this list).
Laconica is built on PHP/MySQL open source software.
Recently, Laconica team released the version 0.7.3 which bring new features to an already quite well built software (that besides fixing some bugs from previous versions).
Some of the new features are:
* A plugin to allow a templating language for customization
* A plugin for Piwik Analytics engine
* A bookmarklet for posting a notice about a Web page you’re reading
* A welcome notice (’welcomebot’) and default subscription for new users
* Correct and intelligent redirect HTTP status codes
* Support for SSL for some or all pages on the site
* Better handling of empty notice lists on many pages
* Major improvements to the Twitter friend-sync offline processing
* Ping, twitter and facebook queuehandlers working better
* Subscribers, subscriptions, groups are listed on the Personal page.
* “Invite” link restored to main menu
* Better memory handling in FOAF output
* Fix for SUP support (FriendFeed?)
More here …
Download the latest version of Laconica – the open source microblogging software.
Listen the podcast interview with Evan Prodromou for Laconica and Identi.ca
Laconica is not alone. It has competitors and two of them are Yonkly (built on ASP.NET) and Revou (built on PHP/MySQL but it is commercial – costs about $400). Check them out too.
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Tags: identica, jaiku, laconica, microblogging, mysql, open-source, php, plurk, presently, revou, software, twitter clone, yonkly
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
And I still cannot delete my Laconica account, bleh.
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
[...] Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Hi,
We set up a Laconica install last week called http://reviewur.com. This is a testing website but will be eventually using the site for short snippet reviews, advise, and opinions on practically anything and everything.
What put me over the edge with the newest version of Laconica (0.7.3) is the fact that there is no admin section or panel. I can’t control users, spam, account, groups set up by others, etc. Freaking ridiculous if you ask me. It’s like setting up a WordPress install, opening it up for the world to post, and having no ability to control, delete, or manage anything being posted to the site.
I’m just blown away by this lack of, well, control for a Laconica site owner. :-\
Guess we need to build our own.
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April 15th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is one step closer to the version 1.0:
Twitter.. http://tinyurl.com/dafemb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Laconica, the Twitter clone software, is one step closer to the version 1.0 http://cli.gs/9eb0Lh
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 11:43 am
This seem to be the most complex Twitter clone out there. I’m talking about an open source one…
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Laconica is open source…
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Yes, that’s what I said. Because there’s Revou which is another clone but it is commercial and I don’t know how complex it is.And I think Jaiku went open source (maybe under another name?), but I am not sure…
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone software, is one step closer to the version 1.0 http://tinyurl.com/dafemb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I’m curious as to the point of building a Twitter clone (other than because you can). It seems that Twitter has really captured the market for 140 char messages.What is the differentiator here?
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
enterprise microblogging?
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I guess this resembles the case of the social networks out there. There are some general leaders (Facebook, Myspace, Hi5) and some niche leaders (Linkedin and other dozen of niche social networks).And a bit resembles also with the search engine situation: Google is the leader but that doesn’t stop entrepreneurs to build niche search engines or even take on Google directly.
Twitter is the leader, no doubt. But a Twitter clone could have a specific niche (Yammer, for example, is much more oriented to enterprise "twittering").
Laconica just offers you, free, the mean to build such a niche service without being necessary to hire developers. Like there are lots of social networking software…or video sharing software (Youtube clones).
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Exactly…Yammer does that.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Interesting…I used a Youtube clone software to build a niche video sharing service. Of course, I never hope to reach Youtube mass…and I don’t intent to.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Isn’t Twitter’s role to do with subsidising the cost of sending thousands of SMS messages? Rather than the actual software that sends them…
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I’m not a Twitter devotee personally but if they’re right and Twitter keeps growing eventually competition is going to spring up. I mean, imagine a company having a monopoly on e-mail and having to build a system robust enough to handle every e-mail sent worldwide. It wouldn’t be possible.Given that it makes a certain amount of sense to start working on an open source protocol now so that it’s mature when/if Twitter competition starts to spring up.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
These guys are based at the same co-working station as us, Station-C in Montreal, and they seem to have an idea of what they are doing.Following the linux model. They install micro-blogging on companies intranets and then do service for them. Not a bad idea, won’t be the next google, but it is a niche market that seems ripe for the taking. A lot of companies want to use twitter like services, but are not comfortable going online.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/2gh7b
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
"Enterprise microblogging"?And there is a company selling that?
And there are companies buying that?
I’m not sure if I want to laugh or cry right now.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/7rxt
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/WaZXA
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
It is known that companies are, usually, more resistant to the inovation.I just remember the company I worked for some time ago: they switched from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 last year
…I know a company which builds educational products…yet it doesn’t support Firefox! Firefox which has 20% of the market!Another company just upgraded their Internet Explorer browser…switching from IE6 to IE7…So, give it some time…the enterprise will catch up eventually with Twitter like stuff. Too bad that, at that time, something new will be out there…and they have to play the cat and mouse again.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
A good way to make money for those guys…intranet microblogging.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Sorry, I think you completely misunderstood me.I’m baffled that someone would even want to deploy a twitter-like app in a corporate environment. Twitter seems to be the most counter-productive form of communication imaginable, even when you get rid of the character limit.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Twitter is probably more valuable inside an enterprise than on the Internet. It’s part of plenty of people’s jobs to keep up with a constant stream of minor updates.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Yeah, I think Twitter is subsidizing the SMS (text messages) sent to the mobile phones…I read somewhere that they stopped to do this in China or another asian country because it was just too expensive…
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
The 140 char limit, the inability to attach files, etc… seem very counter-productive with regards to intra-corporate communication. I’d never look toward Twitter for that role. IRC, campfire, Confluence, etc… sure, but never Twitter.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
IRC, Campfire, and Confluence all require you to actively participate. (Thanks, I just remembered to hop on ours).IM is always-on, and at my clients it seems to work. But broadcasting over IM doesn’t work.
Email broadcasts piss off enterprise people (not least because psychotic IT managers crack down on email storage, which leads to a startup idea that could easily generate an 8-figure ROI for most large enterprises: kill those IT managers).
What does that leave you with?
I’m actually bullish on enterprise microblogging.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
IM is always-on, and at my clients it seems to work. But broadcasting over IM doesn’t work.It’s the broadcast bit about twitter that worries me. Broadcast equals noise. Communication noise is very harmful.
If you really value real-time updates about your peers then that should at least be limited to the stuff that can be relevant to you, e.g. to people that work on the same project as you.
For this purpose a simple chat-room seems more than adequate. And that is supported by pretty much every IM service in existence. Without character limits. With seamless unicast.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/l2f6
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is …: Twitter is all the rage these days (it r.. http://tinyurl.com/dafemb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Broadcasts limited to the stuff relevant to you seems like the entire Twitter problem statement. I think you’re getting hung up on how Internet Twitter is used. Enterprise IM isn’t used for picking up teenaged girls on Yahoo, either.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/gwMv
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
One problem with twitter is you can’t control the namespace.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/17IjLN
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Laconica (open-source twitter) is close to 1.0. Could throw Yammer a loop? internal app = better security, cheaper. http://bit.ly/8VdZI
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/13ZQN4
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
"Laconica is built on PHP/MySQL open source software."Given all the hullabaloo about twiter scaling, rewrites, etc, I thought it would be clear by now that a database driven website is not a good architecture for twitter-like messaging system.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/62GKt
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/1e92vz
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is …: Twitter is all the rage these days (it r.. http://bit.ly/19QNR1
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/b0gVN
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
A single instance of Laconica probably won’t support millions of users, but the whole point IMO is to federate smaller Laconica sites rather than building a huge centralized monopoly.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
all good things get cloned in time, http://tinyurl.com/dafemb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/4qidAR
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/7TDW
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/m3Vu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Laconica, the Twitter clone open source microblogging software, is … http://bit.ly/D7Xni
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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April 15th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Broadcasts limited to the stuff relevant to you seems like the entire Twitter problem statement.Absolutely not. In twitter you follow people, which makes absolutely no sense in corporate context. Who am I supposed to follow, my project manager, all my co-workers? Am I supposed to change my followership for each project? What when I’m jumping between projects?
As I see it the only meaningful messaging context in the corporate world is per-project or per-team. And nothing easier than starting a chatroom, campfire or similar for that. Or why exactly should Bob the programmer care what Sarah from accounting is working on if she’s not part of his project or team?
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Yes, you follow your teammates (your dev team, your account team, your CSR shift manager), plus management up the chain to the CEO, plus facilities for your building, HR, and finally the hashtags for any project you may be a part of.Which is completely nonsensical. Why put that burden on the user when a simple chatroom serves the exact same purpose, with better scoping? Why would I want my CEOs messages intermixed with my project related chatter?Why should I receive messages for projects that I have nothing to do with only because one of my co-workers is involved with them?
You’ll probably say "then filter by hashtag". And I’ll tell you: This is why many people consider twitter nothing more than a very poor re-implementation of existing chat technology. The hashtag emulates a chatroom (poorly) on top of a broadcast protocol. In fact the whole construct is so primitive and backwards than one has to wonder whether the twitter guys had ever looked at IRC, jabber or, well, anything, before they started their broken impl.
What they did successfully was to make person-centric scopes (rooms) the default. This obviously has a lot of mass appeal due to the inherent psychological effects (cf. "why babies cry"). But again, I don’t see how this has a place in any productive environment.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Can you say XMMP…Those who don’t understand are doomed to re-invent. Poorly.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
>> "IRC, Campfire, and Confluence all require you to actively participate."Please. Most of IRC is idlers. It’s simple enough to setup an IRC client to be connected to channels that are useful to you.
Twitter is a single dimensional thing. You can only follow people and be followed. With chatrooms you can have several groups open at the same time. I’d say that makes it far more useful, especially in a corporate setting.
With Twitter you just don’t have the granularity. You have to either say you’re interested in Bob, or you’re not interested in Bob. With IRC/chatrooms/etc, you say you’re interested in Bob IF he’s also talking about some project you’ve setup a channel for.
I’d say the only real reason for a corporation to use Twitter in their intranet is if they want to appear hip+cool and "get it".
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
>> "IRC, Campfire, and Confluence all require you to actively participate."Please. Most of IRC is idlers. It’s simple enough to setup an IRC client to be connected to channels that are useful to you.
Twitter is a single dimensional thing. You can only follow people and be followed. With chatrooms you can have several groups open at the same time. I’d say that makes it far more useful, especially in a corporate setting.
With Twitter you just don’t have the granularity. On Twitter you have to either say you’re interested in Bob, or you’re not interested in Bob. With IRC/chatrooms/etc, you say you’re interested in Bob IF he’s also talking about some project you’ve setup a channel for.
I’d say the only real reason for a corporation to use Twitter in their intranet is if they want to appear hip+cool and "get it".
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I was thinking more of SMTP. Twitter and Facebook may be the Compuserve and Genie of Web 2.0.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Having it available as open source can prove a significant advantage – they might become the Wordpress of microblogging, so to speak.As for Twitter capturing the microblogging market, with ~6 million users I doubt this is the case. Either what we’ve seen so far is the tip of the iceberg, or there is very little real demand for microblogging. Twitter seems to be very focused on a certain market and certain set of features, so there’s definitely room for other players.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Thanks for the link. The more details we get the better we understand…
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
You’re pretty biased here, axod.It’s simple for people who are used to "idling" on chat channels, periodically checking back to see whether anything interesting has happened. But not only is that an uncommon use case for most corporate computer users, it’s annoying even for people who are used to it. To wit: much as I like Campfire, I have to be reminded or scheduled to get on it.
Most people don’t spend their days lurking. Almost everyone on the Internet does spend their days available on IM.
You’re not acknowledging the Twitter use case. Twitter isn’t a chat system, even if people abuse it that way.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Twitter isn’t a chat system, even if people abuse it that way. If you want to continue casting the argument in terms of why Twitter is worse at group chat than IRC, I’ll continue conceding that you’re right about group chat and totally missing the point about Twitter. There is a difference between a status update (which people already organize their days around in big companies) and a chat message.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Twitter isn’t a chat system, even if people abuse it that way.Interesting level of abuse then. Those hash-tags seem to be mighty popular, probably only topped by "replies".
There is a difference between a status update (which people already organize their days around in big companies) and a chat message.
And what would that be?Twitter presents your "status updates" in exactly the same way that chat clients present their chat messages. Okay it’s crippled as in you are not supposed to reply – but people are obviously not using it that way.
Furthermore you ignore the fact that nobody in your company has only a single, canonical status that could be summed up in 140 chars. Everybody is involved in multiple projects and teams, each of which has a different status.
There is a reason why all ticket- and project-management systems are project centric and not people centric. It’s because the former makes sense and the latter doesn’t.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
What does that leave you with?Skype. It’s proprietary, but I don’t know of a free alternative.
Zephyr.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
You know, SMTP supports instant messages: SEND FROM: in place of MAIL FROM:. Apparently an analogous facility (I forget if it was actually connected to SMTP) was one of the major reasons for the uptake of Emacs on Multics.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Then what would be a good architecture for such a service?
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
A big shot marketing guy at my day job (large company) started promoting Yammer as a "great way to share ideas and information".But, no proprietary or internal only communications please, since its on offsite servers.
WTF?
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Unfortunately, the XMPP feature that is what Laconica should have been based on was only relatively recently specified and implementations are still stabilizing, which is a necessary step before we have clients that support it.I’m speaking specifically of "PubSub", where you can publish your updates and they get sent out only to subscribers.
Note that twitter does not otherwise match a conventional IM message, nor does it match a conventional conference room. It does precisely match the PubSub use case, and I still hope to see something based on that. Laconica isn’t wrong to ignore it, per se, but they will end up having to do (or have already done) a lot of very, very redundant specification as a result of ignoring it. (I’d think they’d still have been better off taking an existing XMPP server, fixing the pubsub to do what they want, and building from there.)
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 15th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Twitter is a walled garden. Laconi.ca isn’t, you can subscribe and respond to users on laconi.ca installations on other domains. It doesn’t even have to be running the laconi.ca software, you can communicate with any domain which adheres to the OpenMicroBlogging protocol (there is atleast one other implementation out there).
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 16th, 2009 at 2:44 am
My point is, that the Twitter use case is a subset of the chatroom use case.It’s simple enough to add bots to a channel to email/sms people of updates. Chatrooms just do everything twitter does, and a ton more.
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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April 16th, 2009 at 5:25 am
I think the laconi.ca folks could gain a significant share of the market if they indeed would make it possible for their users to have the same username for all identi.ca installations in the world, just as it is possible for wordpress users to comment on every wordpress blog using the same wordpress identity.A while back, I reasoned on Twitter vs identi.ca. — Here’s the bit on roaming micro-blogging services: http://is.gd/sJtL
This comment was originally posted on Hacker News
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