diff --git a/lib/activity.php b/lib/activity.php
index 3458c76b9a..85d3efa21a 100644
--- a/lib/activity.php
+++ b/lib/activity.php
@@ -377,13 +377,7 @@ class Activity
         $xs->element('updated', null, $published);
             
         if ($author) {
-            $xs->elementStart('author');
-            $xs->element('uri', array(), $this->actor->id);
-            if ($this->actor->title) {
-                $xs->element('name', array(), $this->actor->title);
-            }
-            $xs->elementEnd('author');
-            $this->actor->outputTo($xs, 'activity:actor');
+            $this->actor->outputTo($xs, 'author');
         }
 
         if ($this->verb != ActivityVerb::POST || count($this->objects) != 1) {
diff --git a/lib/activityobject.php b/lib/activityobject.php
index 5185d77610..3df35f84b0 100644
--- a/lib/activityobject.php
+++ b/lib/activityobject.php
@@ -498,14 +498,21 @@ class ActivityObject
 
         $xo->element('activity:object-type', null, $this->type);
 
-        $xo->element(self::ID, null, $this->id);
+        // <author> uses URI
+
+        if ($tag == 'author') {
+            $xo->element(self::URI, null, $this->id);
+        } else {
+            $xo->element(self::ID, null, $this->id);
+        }
 
         if (!empty($this->title)) {
-            $xo->element(
-                self::TITLE,
-                null,
-                common_xml_safe_str($this->title)
-            );
+            $name = common_xml_safe_str($this->title);
+            if ($tag == 'author') {
+                $xo->element(self::NAME, null, $name);
+            } else {
+                $xo->element(self::TITLE, null, $name);
+            }
         }
 
         if (!empty($this->summary)) {