Discoverability Is Only Solved If You Can Be Discovered

Discoverability Is Only Solved If You Can Be DiscoveredKev Quirk’s post about SocialSpec raises a reasonable question: what does another specification actually give us that an RSS feed, an About page, and a blogroll don’t already provide? I share his reluctance to add more maintenance to a personal website without a clear benefit. Publishing should not require a second hobby in protocol administration. I also understand his criticism of the initial client being an iOS app. If the pitch is that websites are the future of social media, being able to participate through a browser seems like a fairly obvious place to start. Another ecosystem that requires a particular device is not an especially convincing introduction to the open web. Where I disagree is with the conclusion that discoverability is a solved problem. I have run into the distinction between being allowed to publish something and being allowed to have anyone discover it. Those are very different things, even when they happen…