The core of Micro.blog’s mission is to make it easier for people to have a presence on the web. At first, it was a simple blog host that also included a Twitter-like social timeline that put short (untitled) and long (titled) posts on the same level. In the years since its 2017 launch, Micro.blog’s founder – Manton Reis – has added a number of features that expand on that mission. Here’s a list off the top of my mind:
All of this is hosted on your own website, (optionally, but strongly encouraged) on your own domain name. I’ve never seen anything else like it.
There are plans ranging from $1/month to $15/month that include a subset of these features, depending on how much blogging ,The power user” is you.
Rees’s next big endeavor with Micro.blog: video hosting, which launched yesterday.
Micro.Blog Studio adds long video hosting for your blog with uploads up to 20 minutes long. You can read some technical excerpts here. It can also automatically copy videos to PeerTube and Bluesky.
It’s a strange narrative that promises to be a significant challenge. Because if hosting videos were easy, YouTube wouldn’t be the only game in town. And that’s why Reece has pursued it. It’s not good for the open web to have so much of its video content centralized on a single host. John Gruber expressed regret after Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension:
The big problem is YouTube. With YouTube, Google has centralized control over videos. We need a way that is as easy and scalable to freely host video content as it is for written content. I don’t know what the answer is technically, but we should start working on it urgently.
Just as micro.blogs encourage people to host their own text, reading lists, podcasts, photos, and social network interactions on their own domains, that ethos now extends to video as well.
One of the best things about Micro.blog is how it enables you to syndicate publications to your site, elsewhere (team) framework. This appears in features like automatic crossposting on BlueSky, Flickr, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Medium, Nostr, Pixelfed, Threads, and Tumblr. And manual crossposting elsewhere. This allows ,The “source of truth” should be on your own website that you control, but you won’t lose out on conversations and audiences in other locations. Along with expanded video hosting, Reiss has added PeerTube as another automated crossposting destination, and hopes to enable YouTube as well when Google approves his application. This isn’t about Only Posting to your website, rather than centralizing your website first and primary You post and then from there deliver your text, images, audio and now video to other networks.
As you can probably tell, I’m very excited to have Micro.Blog accept the challenge of becoming that ,The “indie-focused, YouTube alternative” that Reece envisioned. I haven’t upgraded my plan yet, but only because I primarily post shorter videos (covered by my current ,‘Premium’ plan), but I’m so glad it now exists as an option.
There’s never been a better time to make your mark on the web. If you haven’t checked out Micro.blog before, I think it’s a fascinating place to visit.
Updated 2025-11-11: I was in a hurry when I first posted this, and it occurred to me to include some wants and needs for Micro.blog’s video hosting capabilities. This is a short list, both due to Reece’s solid offering from the start and my lack of imagination.
Measure deadlines at all levels. I really think video hosting would be a stronger offering if it were more consistently available at the micro.blog levels. For example, 1-minute videos at $5/month, 5-minute videos at $10/month, 10-minute videos at $15/month, and 20-minute videos at $20/month. All have the same capabilities, but are limited by length.
I know Rees considered it, but ultimately decided against it in the name of simplicity. He did not want to impair the existing plans, and (rightly) considered them to have a tremendous value with their current characteristics. They’re clearly hoping people will upgrade to the higher-priced Studio plans specifically for new video content.
but i think about tying Some? 20 minute time limit and video features in the $20 plan (multiple resolutions and fast playback on your blog) More Confusion, lack of features and missed opportunities. Take me for example. I think I can fairly say that I am a micro.blog power user. But I’m also not sure I’m right in saying that those unique features are limited to the Studio plan. I know everyone gets video uploads up to 1 minute. (Perhaps No However, everyone. What Micro.one users get at $1/month ,New” video features? I’m not sure.
Historically, most of the videos I post are around 90 seconds long. I’m more likely to cut 30 seconds from my video to fit into a 1 minute time frame than double my monthly cost to show those extra 30 seconds. The difference between a 1 minute video and a 20 minute video is so big that it doesn’t seem meaningful. In my mind, I will be ,Wasting an extra $10/month ($120/year) by not posting 20 minute videos. But I would be more likely to pay a little extra money for a little extra time. And then if I started to push that new threshold, I would feel encouraged and recognized to graduate to the next level. I’m concerned that Reece will face higher infrastructure costs with 1-minute videos being uploaded and served, but won’t see a bump in revenue. We’re all getting 1-minute videos ,Free, and I don’t think a large portion of micro.blog users will need 20 minutes.
Said another way, I think people have to give a Little Increasing the scope of hosting your videos on micro.blog will increase the chances of them upgrading over time. Once that habit is solidified, and users are comfortable with it, paying $5 more for the next jump in time frame isn’t a big ask. But jumping straight to the Studio plan for an extra $10-$15 is kind of disappointing. The difference between 1 minute and 20 is huge.
Help 4K Resolution. A pie-in-the-sky request, I know. 4K Videos are very big. But I can almost always see the difference, and choose higher quality playback every time. If my videos are uploaded this way I will be happy for them to display in full-quality.
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