Connect an account

A connected account is what Timalio bills and what it publishes to. The networks open today are LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Mastodon; what follows applies to each of them.

Before you start

Only an admin connects an account. It commits money and it decides who publishes on behalf of the organization.
You pay before connecting. The subscription has to cover one account more than those already plugged in; otherwise the connection is refused before it even reaches the network.
Every account counts as one. Two accounts on the same network are two connected accounts.

Networks marked as coming (Discord, Telegram, LinkedIn Pages, Threads, and TikTok) cannot be connected. They appear greyed out in the connection window, labelled “Soon”.

Replacing, disconnecting

Replacing one account with another is free: the subscription does not move and nothing is charged. Posts scheduled on the old account and not yet sent are removed; its publishing history stays readable.

Disconnecting an account brings the subscription down at the next renewal. The month already started is owed and stays usable: reconnecting an account before the renewal date charges nothing. The details are on the billing page.

A personal profile.

In Accounts, click “Connect an account” and pick LinkedIn.
Authorize Timalio on the page that opens. Nothing has to be set up on your side first.
The account appears in the list, with the date its access expires.

Access lasts two months, then renews with one click on “Reconnect”. This is not a glitch: automatic renewal is reserved for approved partners. An amber badge warns you seven days ahead, and an email goes out three days ahead.
3,000 characters per post, of which roughly 210 are visible before the “see more” cut.
At most 20 mentions in a post.

Bluesky

A Bluesky account, on its original server or on another one.

In Accounts, click “Connect an account” and pick Bluesky.
Enter your full handle, in the form “name.bsky.social”.
Authorize Timalio at your host, which then brings you back here.

300 characters, counted as displayed signs: an emoji counts as one.
Access renews on its own at every post, and at least every two months without posting. There is nothing to do unless you revoke the authorization on your side.
An image description is required: the network refuses an image with no alt text. That is not a courtesy, it is a server-side rejection.
A web address is only clickable when it is written in full, protocol included.
When a post carries images, the link preview card does not go out: the network has a single slot for both.

Mastodon

An account on any Mastodon instance. Timalio registers itself with that instance: there is no key for you to create.

In Accounts, click “Connect an account” and pick Mastodon.
Enter your instance address, or your full handle in the form “@name@instance”.
Authorize Timalio on your instance, which then brings you back here.

500 characters by default, but every instance sets its own: Timalio reads the real one when you connect and applies that, not this.
A web address counts as 23 characters, however long it is. A mention only counts the part before the instance.
Access does not expire. You only need to reconnect if you revoke the authorization from your account settings.
The network’s web interface shortens addresses on screen. The preview shows it, but that is the rendering of one client among several.

Facebook

Facebook is awaiting Meta’s approval, and is not open yet. You cannot connect your account today: the app shows the network greyed out, “Awaiting Meta’s approval”, and refuses the connection, before any payment. Opening it takes the verification of our business, then Meta’s review of the app; neither is complete. What follows is how it will work once Meta has approved Timalio. We do not promise a date.

A Page. A personal profile cannot be connected: Facebook only allows posting to Pages, and only for people who may create content there.

In Accounts, click “Connect an account” and pick Facebook.
Authorize Timalio at Meta. The same authorization covers both Meta networks: you do not repeat it for the other one.
Pick the Page from the list that appears. Nothing is billed or connected before that choice.

63,206 characters per post. The network does not document that number: it is the composer’s guardrail, taken from the tools of the trade, not a promise from Meta.
A Page where you are only an analyst is not offered. It would be billed without ever being able to post: Timalio leaves it out of the list rather than sell it to you.
No alt text on images: nothing in the API allows writing it when publishing. The one you type serves the other networks and the preview: the images page explains it.
Page access does not expire once connected. If you revoke the authorization from Facebook, the account moves to reconnect and the accounts page says so.

Instagram

Instagram is awaiting Meta’s approval, and is not open yet. You cannot connect your account today: the app shows the network greyed out, “Awaiting Meta’s approval”, and refuses the connection, before any payment. Opening it takes the verification of our business, then Meta’s review of the app; neither is complete. What follows is how it will work once Meta has approved Timalio. We do not promise a date.

A professional account linked to a Facebook Page. A personal account, or a professional account with no linked Page, cannot be connected.

In Accounts, click “Connect an account” and pick Instagram.
Authorize Timalio at Meta. It is the same authorization as for the other Meta network, and it brings back both at once.
Pick the account from the list. Only those hanging off a Page you administer appear there.

An image is required: Instagram cannot create a text-only post. It is the only network in Timalio in that case, and the composer says so before you send, not after.
JPEG only. A PNG is refused on upload, with its reason: Timalio converts nothing quietly, and a silent conversion hands back an image you did not choose.
2,200 characters of caption.
A web address is not clickable in a caption, and no preview card is shown. Putting a link there means putting text nobody can follow.
No alt text either: nothing in the API allows writing it when the post is created.