Mastodon is one of the alternatives users are dealing with ahead of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the changes the billionaire is pushing, and the general perception that the social network will not improve on capital issues why many of us who started it left it: hate messages, hoaxes and misinformation.

Twitter is about to change and not for the better. Although young people mostly bet on TikTok and Instagram, the microblogging site is still there the most influential social network on the planet. Musk is a billionaire, he pulled Twitter out of the stock markets, and he can basically do whatever he wants because he doesn’t have to answer to investors. Or not as much as if it were a publicly traded company because there is significant financial backing behind it, such as the $13,000 million provided by Morgan Stanley.

Musk is at the head of big companies like Tesla or SpaceX, but it is not clear whether he will get a return on his huge investment in Twitter or sink the platform because of his inexperience in running something so politically sensitive and administratively more complicated than others. how many does he have.. Laying off half the staff may be financially compelling, but getting rid of so much talent doesn’t make you think about anything positive to begin with. In fact, some of them are rehiring… Likewise, the Twitter Blue mess and paying a subscription to access the verification system, from what we hear, will be the way to “be somebody” on Twitter.

Last but not least, the promise of “freedom of speech”, if it does not carry out comprehensive checks on news, hate and misinformation, it will cause authentic chaos and consternation of users They don’t want any more garbage. We will see what happens. Like everything, your life doesn’t depend on Twitter and there are alternatives. Or you might consider taking a break from social media like those of us who started with it have been doing for a long time and ended up exhausted…

What is Mastodon?

mastodon is basically a Twitter clone. It offers many of the same social networking and microblogging features as Twitter, including the ability to mention other accounts; post content that can only be seen by your own followers or the general public; sharing multimedia content such as images, videos, animated avatars, personalized emoticons and even creating surveys. In addition, Mastodon offers its users access to the publications of their followers and feed a chronological news feed that addresses one of the complaints of Twitter users.

If at first glance you can do the same as on Twitter, its operation is radically different, because it is oa decentralized network where communities have much more freedom to build their own network, large or small corners with a measure of their own. Although these communities exist on a wide variety of servers, Mastodon allows servers to co-exist in a unified environment, meaning that one user can follow and view others’ content spread across multiple servers using a single account.

How does it work?

Mastodon is a platform open source and free access. Users can access through a large number of third-party mobile applications (some free and some paid), each offering a variety of features.

If you don’t want to install any clients, you can also access Mastodon from your computer and through a web browser on your mobile device. Based on open web protocols, Mastodon can communicate with any other platform you implement ActivityPub. With an account you will have access to the entire universe of social applications: federal.

Additionally, anyone can set up their own server, provided you have the funds and know-how, and build a community on it that offers some flexibility and a range of options far beyond what is available on Twitter. Accounts are created on one server, although there is an option to move them to another.

Regardless, users can view the content and interactions of users who have created their accounts on another server, provided that instance is federated with others, so despite its decentralized nature, Mastodon acts as a platform where everyone can participate. Many servers are created around specific topics, technology, cinema, art, music… There are many to choose from. This means that not all servers are open to the public, limiting their access, and some even require interested users to join a waiting list to (possibly) gain future access to the communities.

Most of the communities you can find on Twitter are also found on Mastodon. Its managers state that there are currently more than 3,600 servers and 655,000 active users on the network. Very little for millions of Twitter users (238 million), but it is growing at a great pace. It happens just like other great apps that have taken over the market, it is very difficult to move users.

Advantages of mastodon

What we love most about this platform is its decentralized design and the flexibility of use it brings to the user. His managers say so “Instant global communication is too important to belong to society. Each Mastodon server is a completely independent entity, capable of interacting with others and creating a global social network».

With thousands of servers and more to come, everyone will have the opportunity to find a group that interests them and offers the type of experience they are looking for. It is not mandatory to isolate yourself, and you can participate in the communities you want, except for the commented ones, which are not open to the general public.

Another of its advantages is related to its open source nature and the right to examine, use, copy or modify the code. Thanks to this, each developer can create his own application to access the platform, so users are not limited to a single official application that can be removed at any time or have errors. Apps are available on all major platformsincluding Android and iOS, free and paid.

And control by communities, not society. Mastodon puts the decision in your hands, as each server creates its own rules and regulations that apply locally. Each one offers something different, so users who want a less moderate experience have the option of finding like-minded communities.

The organization behind the platform (a non-profit) explains that this local moderation allows communities to operate in the way they see best, rather than being required to follow a set of general rules. Another element to appreciate is that it has no advertising, apart from the fact that there are no algorithms that decide what you see and where you are. “We’ll never post ads or advertise profiles for you to see, which means your data and your time are yours and yours alone”they explain.

Some less positive points

The decentralized nature and local moderation of Mastodon they are double-edged swords. While it offers communities more freedom compared to Twitter, it means that some servers are also quite toxic and contain racist, sexist, hateful and negative comments and content that is not even allowed on centralized platforms, just like Musk left the little bird. fly for free. Remember, it’s as simple as avoiding these online destinations because there is no central company to moderate or delete content.

Another issue is that the Mastodon experience can seem overwhelming at first because of the way the servers, called instances or nodes, act like little islands. Each instance has its own post feed, and depending on the software you use to access the instance, it can be difficult to switch between content streams across multiple instances.

Finally, the platform has also been criticized focus too much on trying to clone twitter and less in exploiting its differences and advantages, which may make it less attractive to the masses. Even user posts are called “toots”, apparently a play on the word tweety.

How to get started with Mastodon

Because Mastodon is defined by an ocean of instances (servers), is not the only place to register. Instead, you will first need to find a server that looks attractive to you and create an account on it. Perhaps the most popular server is mastodon.social, but there are many others to choose from. You can also start from the official web portal and search for servers. When you find one you like, provided it allows you to join, connecting to the platform is as easy as connecting to a server and creating an account with a name and password.

You can do it from a web browser as a progressive web app with push notifications just like native software. Clients for mobile, iOS, Android or SailfishOS are also available. When you go to create an account, you will see the rules used by that particular server.

The mentioned mastodon.social, as an example, prohibits racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and the like, does not allow its members to promote or call for violence, disinformation and other things that you would normally find on a regular social network. . After accepting the terms presented by the Mastodon server, you will be able to choose a name under which other users will see you and which will be the same for logging in. For example, it will be appended to “@mastodon.social” and you can use it as something like a URL for others to connect with you.

Other alternatives

Twitter is unique in terms of traffic and number of users. And it’s hard to replicate, but those who are already tired of Twitter can find a new home in addition to Mastodon on other platforms like Reddit, CounterSocial or even Discord. Of course you can follow on Twitter or you can give your body, mind and soul a good rest and disconnect from everyone… at least sometimes. You really can live without Twitter, and we tell you that after we debuted in the summer of 2006 when it launched, and we use it as professional MC medium with over 42,000 followers.