What is Pebble?
Pebble aims to be the new public square - a source for up-to-date, short-form information, and friendly conversations.
You can apply to join Pebble to get an account. We look at your past social history to be sure you will enjoy Pebble, and then invite you in.
What do the different checkmarks mean?
Checkmarks let your followers know it's the authentic you.
A Pebble Authenticated checkmark means our team has vetted that you are who you say you are. In this early phase, we check your government ID on a video call to confirm the authenticity of your account. Get authenticated by signing up for a session with our team here. We charge $5 to offset the cost of the verification. We will send you a PayPal link during your session.
If you were legacy verified account on Twitter, you can bring your checkmark with you to Pebble. Complete this form to begin the process.
How can I "Get the Checkmark?"
You can apply to get the “Pebble Authenticated” badge through a verification process. You will qualify for the verification if you have met the following criteria:
- Your Pebble account has been active for 30 days
- You have completed your bio
- You have posted content
- You have not violated our community guidelines
If you have met these criteria, you will be invited to apply for verification through our site. Our online verification process utilizes a third-party provider, Persona. During the process you will be asked to take a photo of your ID, and a selfie.
We charge $5 to offset the cost of the verification. We will send you a PayPal payment link after reviewing your application.
What is the “For You” feed?
We built the “For You” feed in response to requests for more recent, fresh content on Pebble. We weigh recency, who you follow, your interests, and what languages you speak. This is a work in progress and we’re working to improve this to ensure you see relevant content.
Here’s how the score is calculated for each item. The “For You” feed is a view of all posts on Pebble weighted by highest score:
- Follows - Following the author gives a +5 point boost
- Language - We give a +8 point boost for the language of the post matching your browser’s main language, +4 if it is your secondary, and +2 if it matches any others.
- Topics - +2 point for the topic of the post being a topic you’ve marked in “Interests”
- Recency - We decay scores for recency by 20 * Math.exp(-k * daysAgo), with k=0.6
How many accounts can I have on Pebble?
Right now, you cannot have more than two accounts on Pebble, unless you run an official account for an institution, organization or business.
What are premium handles?
Handles that are a single name or under 8 characters long are considered to be “premium handles.” Premium handles require choosing a back-up handle when signing up.
This means if you’re not active on Pebble (not liking or posting for 30 days), we will reach out to reclaim your handle and switch you to your back-up handle. We want to give more active community members access to their first choice handle.
What handles are allowed?
Usernames must be a minimum of 4 characters from the [a-zA-Z0-9_]. For usernames shorter than 8 characters, we require that you choose a backup handle. If your account goes inactive for a long period, we will reclaim your main handle and set your handle to your backup handle.
How do I get more Invites?
If you want to invite friends to Pebble, you can just reply to @Pebble here. Pebble will give you a new invite provided you have fewer than 3 unused invites.
What can I post on Pebble?
Right now our format is familiar: 280 character posts and replies, as well as images.
What is a post called on Pebble?
We are calling it a "post" for now. This could change once we've figured out our final name.
Why did you change the name from T2 to Pebble?
T2 was initially a placeholder, chosen for its affordability at just $7.16 on Namecheap. As we evolved, we sought a name that better resonated with our vision. Pebble reflects the potential of individual voices to create impactful ripples in a vast digital pond.
What does the name "Pebble" signify for the platform?
"Pebble" embodies the essence of humble beginnings and significant impact. It's a name that's not grandiose, yet signifies how every user, much like a Pebble, can influence and inspire broader conversations and ripple effects in our online community.
How do I get an account on Pebble?
To join Pebble, you must be invited by a current user or you can request to join by clicking on "Get your @handle" on https://pebble.is. You will be asked to review our community guidelines and connect your X/Twitter account. If we detect any previous behavior that may violate our community guidelines, our system will not auto-generate an account for you. If you believe this is a mistake, you can request another review by completing this form here. If you do not have a X/Twitter account, you can also request another review by completing the same form.
How does Pebble use AI?
We use Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT for analysis and generation, but that information is not stored by the LLMs, only used in the context of the request (i.e., suggesting a reply). We do not train LLMs with Pebble user data.
We use many computing methods (such as machine learning, natural language processing, vector databases, etc.) to deliver the best experience for people on Pebble. None of this data is shared with outside parties in a manner which allows them to re-use or train their own systems on Pebble content or people.
Pebble is a public website. Search engines and other scrapers, some of them LLMs, have access to this public content as with all public content.
We are investigating the consequences of asking ChatGPT in robots.txt not to scrape Pebble pages.