Microblogging, as exemplified by Twitter, is gaining popularity as a way to exchange short messages within social networks. However, the limitations of current microblog services--proprietary, centralized, and isolated-- threaten the long-term viability of this new medium. In this work we investigate the current state of microblogging and envision an open, distributed micropublishing service that addresses the weaknesses of today's systems. We draw on traces taken from Twitter to characterize the microblogging workload. Our proposal, fethr, connects micropublishers large and small in a single global network. New messages are gossiped among subscribers using a lightweight http-based protocol. Cryptographic measures protect authenticity and continuity of updates and prove message ordering even across providers.
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