I shared a post earlier today about Honda’s logo change and included two inline links to connect something I wrote in 2024 with a recent press release. Micro.Blog posted it to my site, and then crossposted it to Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon. Here’s how it looked on the Micro.Blog timeline:

Including multiple links is how the web works, but I know that’s not how social media typically works. So how did other services render the two links?

Threads and Mastodon take the typical social media approach. They only shared the first link, and instead of it being an inline link, it was in a box below the post.

Threads:

Mastodon:

Bluesky, however, handled it perfectly, including both inline links. I was pleasantly surprised:

In this case, the links were just to provide background for anyone that wanted it. To share two links using the social media approach, I’d need to post the first link and then follow up with a comment and second link. In my opinion, that approach puts way too much emphasis on the links.

Hopefully, these newer social media sites will realize that communication is more clear when they allow basic HTML including inline links. And while they are at it, these services should allow basic formatting like bold and italic. Availability of basic formatting is one thing I really like about Micro.blog, and it really does enhance the reading and writing experience.

Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.