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  • Mark Jardine :misc_mtb:mark@tapbots.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:08 PM

    RE: mastodon.macstories.net/@vitic

    Tapbots and Iconfactory have been around before MacStories. (Iconfactory much longer!). We were on Twitter since the beginning of its inception.

    I'm not going to speak for Iconfactory here, but leaving Twitter has been a HUGE blow to our company and yes we have been struggling financially ever since we left. Every business not on Twitter is sacrificing reach and potential customers for the sake of doing what is right.

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Replies

  • Andy Carolanandycarolan@social.lol
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:16 PM

    @mark I think the key text here is "doing what is right."

    It is a sacrifice, for sure, but for very good reasons.

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  • Nic Lake :pika:niclake@mastodon.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:18 PM

    @mark Not to mention that they killed off a huge revenue stream for you (and arguably one of the best iOS apps ever).

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  • Reinald Frelingrfreling@masto.ai
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:28 PM

    @mark I think Tapbots/Iconfactory’s situation was radically different. Your businesses depended exclusively on Twitter’s API to operate. Elon basically shut down your apps overnight.

    Macstories just needs extra income and is looking for new revenue streams. Engaging on X is an attempt to explore revenue growth there (Viticci’s post is fairly mute on that topic).

    I worry that they might have spent more goodwill than they thought in exchange of less income than they were hoping for.

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  • Mark Jardine :misc_mtb:mark@tapbots.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:32 PM

    @rfreling Yes, but regardless of that aspect, I still mean what I said. If Musk left Twitter and the service went back to the way it used to be (but never opened their API back up again), we'd still benefit greatly from having a company account on Twitter.

    I'm speaking about the benefits of being able to promote a business in the "town square". 🙂 The majority of us on Mastodon are "nerds" (not saying that negatively). We are missing out on a lot of potential customers not being on Twitter.

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  • Reinald Frelingrfreling@masto.ai
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:41 PM

    @mark yeah I completely get that. I do miss the Twitter days dearly (and Tweetbot 🥰). We have lost an incredible tool for reaching wide audiences of passionate readers/followers.

    I’m just not sure that this “town square” is what it used to be and if the “engagement” is even worth it financially (not even speaking about the goodwill costs associated with it). I really hope Macstories finds a way to survive without losing its soul in the process.

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  • Aaron :apple_inc: :isles:Aaron@social.aaroncrocco.com
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:28 PM

    @mark TBH doing the "right" thing != easy. I get MacStories (and TapBots by your post) are hurting without Twitter usage, but I don't get how Federico felt it was okay to reactivate his and John's accounts instead of just the core MacStories accounts AND pay for those. The step of not telling MS staff proves how much they knew it wouldn't go over well.

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  • RagashingoRagashingo@starside.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:36 PM

    @mark @viticci Yeah, to me this whole blow up about the political and social evils of Twitter are not why I original left the platform.

    I left because Twitter and its leader/leadership decided to be massive jerks to two members of the Mac/iOS community by cutting off their Twitter API access without any sort of deprecation, warning, grace period, thank you, or apology.

    They nearly destroyed two great, innovative businesses run by good people... OUR people. Then the rest of the evils happened.

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  • Jason Coxjasoncox@mastodon.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 5:39 PM

    @mark We greatly appreciate y’all for that! And even though I’m in the @ivory beta, you can be damn sure my recurring IAP is still active!

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  • Dave MasonDaveMasonDotMe@mastodon.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 6:59 PM

    @mark
    I don't have any 'skin in the game' with regard to owning/running a business.

    But I do from the perspective of social/professional networking. I lost that when I quit Twitter.

    IMHO, the takeaway for all of us is we need to convince friends, family, and everyone else to leave* capitalist social media...and decrease, if not eliminate, the incentive for others to stay.

    *That means deleting your account, not just going dormant.

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  • Ged Maheuxgedeonm@mastodon.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 7:23 PM

    @mark It’s okay, you pretty much took the words out of our mouths.

    One thing that makes all this easier is X’s reach doesn’t extend as far as people think, nor to the valued types of customers either of us would want any longer I think. It’s now primarily for breaking news, celebs & trash. #FuckElon

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  • Craig Grannellcraiggrannell@mastodon.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 8:43 PM

    @gedeonm @mark I mean, it _might_ be the sort of place you’d want to post on if your business and/or output had a lot of AI stuff going on, though…

    (As for what Mark said and your follow-up: hear hear x infinity.)

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  • Sean C.filmfreak75@mastodon.social
    Aug 21, 2026, 7:27 PM

    @mark thank you for reinforcing why i support @tapbots

    i’ve had the same argument with people still using Facebook and Threads as primary drivers

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  • aeberbachaeberbach@mastodon.online
    Aug 21, 2026, 9:52 PM

    @mark @viticci@macstories.net anyone who goes back there is just blocked, it’s easier than trying to follow the moral backflips they try to justify it with. I’m a happy Ivory user.

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  • Ken McGrawkm321@mastodon.online
    Aug 21, 2026, 11:39 PM

    @mark We appreciate what tapbots has done. It’s unfortunate that more people who are not Elon fans chose to stay. That those who have left are now spread across 3 platforms further dilutes community on an alternate platform.

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  • Brian Costacronocx@mastodon.social
    Aug 22, 2026, 12:35 AM

    @mark It makes me so sad that people and or businesses, big and small, that still post on X are that uninterested to join either Mastodon or Bluesky. I think if the “big guys” did, others would too.

    Even worse that it’s making people turn back to those Services as toxic as they are, I feel for MacStories. This is something they shouldn’t have to do. But I guess it’s too hard for people to switch. Which is BS. Apple and others should take a stand 😒😞

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  • Dan Keendankeen@mastodon.social
    Aug 22, 2026, 5:22 AM

    @mark sorry, Mark. I’ve switched clients but I still have happily kept my Ivory subscription to help support you all.

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  • Ammarammarmalik@mas.to
    Aug 22, 2026, 7:27 AM

    @mark Mark, you’re a funny dude. You didn’t leave Twitter because of some principle. You left because they cut off third party apps. You were a willing supporter and contributor to X well after Musk took over. You left because there wasn’t any money for you there, not because of principles.

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  • Mark Jardine :misc_mtb:mark@tapbots.social
    Aug 22, 2026, 1:54 PM

    @ammarmalik you are an idiot. You don’t know anything about how it went down. And if Musk left the company today and Twitter went back to normal but didn’t allow 3rd party clients back, we’d definitely have a company account there because it makes a lot of business sense. Not being there is a huge sacrifice.

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  • Ammarammarmalik@mas.to
    Aug 22, 2026, 1:59 PM

    @mark I’ll tell you exactly how it went down for the benefit of anyone reading this and falsly believing you made a huge sacrifice.

    Musk took over Twitter in Oct 2022. Between that time and Feb the next year you continued to post and develop Tweetbot. Musk didn’t seem to bother you then. Even then you really, really wanted the ban on 3rd party apps reversed. You were happy to make money off his platform and make him money as well.

    Then suddenly the gravy train stopped and Musk became the bad guy. And here you are now.

    Did I miss anything?

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  • ‘Tad’ Sander 🍉🌻tad@fedi.sndr.uk
    Aug 22, 2026, 5:44 PM

    @mark I used Tweetbot from my day one on Twitter to its bitter end. For me, your app was the only good front end of it. And I will always love you for this, guys 💙
    As you can see I moved from Ivory to greener grass, but I’m maintaining Ivory’s subscription - and as a form of thank you, I’ll keep it for as long as I can afford it 🫶
    P.S. Let me reverse my timeline in Ivory and I’m back in a heartbeat 😀

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  • EVTHevth@techhub.social
    Aug 23, 2026, 3:03 PM

    @mark @viticci Mark, thanks for this. Love supporting the team that makes Ivory and appreciate you making this hard choice.

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  • Françoisfmy@piaille.fr
    Aug 24, 2026, 9:21 AM

    @mark @viticci My own move was not entirely a principled one. I moved when Tweetbot was killed, and on to Ivory. A rather smooth transition thanks to you though many people stayed behind on X. I just couldn't stand the X first party interface, or any of the other social networks actually. (Left LinkedIn and Facebook too since then, partly out of principle, partly because their algo feed and ads are such an annoyance.)
    Anyway, just to say thanks for Ivory. It seems everyone is always predicting the death of Mastodon and pointing its irrelevance among the other social networks. For now it's my happy place, I hope it survives long. And Ivory too.

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