Key Points
- Ghost 6 allows publishers to share content natively with the open social web
- Integration with services like Mastodon, Threads, and WordPress sites with ActivityPub
- Ability to publish to Bluesky through Bridgy Fed integration
- Native analytics suite for tracking performance and engagement
- Support for various payment methods, tips, and donations
- Branded newsletters and personalized content for individual readers
Substack rival Ghost now connects with the open social web with its latest public release.
Ghost 6 Release
After months of beta testing, Ghost has shipped a new version of its software, Ghost 6, that allows its publishers to share their long-form content natively with the broader open social web. This means that in addition to publishing their newsletters to the web, RSS, and sending them out via email, Ghost’s users can also natively connect with services like the decentralized X rival Mastodon, Meta’s Threads, Flipboard, WordPress sites that have integrated with ActivityPub, Surf, and WriteFreely, and others.
While Ghost also mentions the ability to publish to Bluesky as a part of this release, that’s made possible through an integration with Bridgy Fed, a service that connects the open social web known as the fediverse to the one called the ATmosphere. The former is powered by an open standard for decentralized social networking called ActivityPub, whereas the latter works with the newer AT Protocol used by Bluesky and other apps.
Ghost 6 arrives shortly after a shameful incident from its top competitor, the newsletter platform Substack, which sent a push notification to users encouraging them to subscribe to a Nazi newsletter. Several authors have already left Substack over its decision to host such content in the past, including Casey Newton of Platformer, a popular tech publication.
The company shared that its publishers have generated over $100 million, leaving Ghost with annual revenue of $8.5 million. Notable Ghost publications include 404 Media, Spyglass, David Sirota’s The Lever, Tangle, Jason Calacanis’s Inside, SFist, and others.
ActivityPub Integration
ActivityPub has long been used to power open, decentralized social media applications. But in recent years, there has been an increased interest in building with this protocol as competitors to Twitter (now called X) emerged. Meta launched its alternative to X with Instagram Threads, which has been catching up to X on mobile devices.
Meanwhile, blogging platform WordPress, including the hosted version WordPress.com, now offers the ability to integrate with ActivityPub, allowing users to follow WordPress blogs on services like Mastodon. Other apps have integrated with the open social web as well, such as Flipboard’s flagship app and newer app Surf, and publishing platform Medium.
Ghost 6 Features
Ghost 6 includes a number of other changes and new additions, notably a native analytics suite that tracks performance, engagement, and conversions across the web, newsletters, and subscriptions in real time. The software also supports a variety of payment methods, tips and donations, branded newsletters, content that can be personalized to individual readers, and more.
Source: techcrunch.com