TL;DR
POSSE (Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere) is a content-syndication approach that prioritizes posting the canonical copy on your own domain and then publishing copies or links to third‑party platforms. The model aims to preserve ownership, improve discoverability, and reduce dependence on siloed services while still using their social features.
What happened
POSSE is a publishing workflow championed by the IndieWeb community that encourages authors to publish original content on their own websites first, then post copies or links to social platforms and other third‑party services. The practice uses permalinks or permashortlinks from syndicated copies back to the canonical post to aid discovery, attribution, and search ranking. POSSE proponents argue it reduces dependence on external services (unlike PESOS), preserves ownership and canonical URLs, and enables backfeed of responses from third parties. The documentation describes implementation details and tooling: various destination-specific methods (Twitter, Facebook, Medium, WordPress), utilities and services (Bridgy Publish, SiloRider, Feed2Toot, POSSE Party, IFTTT), and conversion helpers like h-entry_to_text for plain‑text targets. Typical posting flows include server‑side automatic syndication and a client-mediated flow that gives the user more control over per‑service copies. The guidance also covers UI considerations such as transparent automatic POSSEing and optional previews before publishing.
Why it matters
- Reduces reliance on third‑party platforms by ensuring the canonical content lives on the author’s domain.
- Preserves clear ownership and a traceable permalink chain that is less vulnerable to silo terms of service.
- Improves discoverability and potential search ranking by having syndicated copies link back to the original.
- Allows use of other services’ social layers and aggregation while retaining control over the canonical copy.
Key facts
- POSSE stands for Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere and is an IndieWeb practice.
- Common POSSE practice is to include a permashortlink from copies on third‑party services back to the original post.
- POSSE is presented as preferable to PESOS because PESOS can prevent posting when a third‑party site is down.
- Backfeed can be used to pull responses from services back to the original site.
- Destination‑specific implementations are documented for platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Medium, and WordPress.
- Tools and services mentioned for implementing POSSE include Bridgy Publish, SiloRider, Feed2Toot, POSSE Party, and IFTTT.
- For plain‑text destinations (SMS, push), h-entry_to_text is a method for generating text representations from h-entry content.
- As of 2022‑11, Twitter was reported to be rejecting new API access for applications used to POSSE/backfeed, according to Barnaby Walters.
What to watch next
- How Twitter’s API access policies continue to affect POSSE and backfeed tooling — the source documents a 2022‑11 restriction.
- Whether federated platforms adopt POSSE practices first to improve user retention and accelerate federation — not confirmed in the source.
Quick glossary
- POSSE: Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere — post the canonical content on your site, then copy or link to other services.
- PESOS: Publish Elsewhere, Syndicate (to) Own Site — a model that relies on posting to third‑party platforms first and mirroring back, which can introduce dependencies.
- permashortlink: A short, persistent link from a syndicated copy back to the original canonical post on the author’s site.
- backfeed: The process of pulling responses or interactions from syndicated copies on other platforms back to the original site.
- canonical URL: The authoritative permalink on the author’s domain that denotes the original source of a piece of content.
Reader FAQ
What is POSSE?
POSSE is a workflow where you publish the original content on your own site, then syndicate copies or links to third‑party platforms.
How does POSSE differ from PESOS?
POSSE posts first to your site then syndicates outward; PESOS posts first to a third‑party and mirrors back, which can create dependence on that service.
Can POSSE copies link back to the original?
Yes. Common practice is to include a permashortlink in syndicated copies to enable discovery and attribution.
Are there tools to help implement POSSE?
Yes. The source lists tools and services such as Bridgy Publish, SiloRider, Feed2Toot, POSSE Party, and IFTTT.
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Sources
- Publish (On Your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere
- Publish (on your) Own Site Syndicate Elsewhere
- Post on your Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere!
- POSSE: Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere
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