What is Mastodon, the Twitter alternative, and how do you use it?
Hundreds of thousands of Twitter users have moved to the Mastodon application since Elon Musk completed its acquisition and management of the platform, as reports indicate that the platform lost more than 1.3 million users between October 27 and November 1 alone.
Musk’s management of the Twitter platform witnessed a lot of changes, including: mass layoffs of employees, a series of changes in the moderation of content that led to an increased spread of hate speech across the platform, the release of new features in the account authentication service (Twitter Blue) and its withdrawal on the same day, and others Lots.
The company (Bot Sentinel) tracks the fake behavior of Twitter accounts via artificial intelligence technology – by analyzing more than 3.1 million accounts and monitoring their activity daily – and found that between October 27 and November 1, about 877,000 users closed their accounts, and half a million were suspended Another account, that’s more than double the usual number.
“The rise in the number of accounts closed on Twitter is partly due to the spread of hate speech due to Musk’s policies, and that the move is a protest from users,” said (Christopher Posey), founder of (Bot Sentinel).
Some users who leave Twitter are moving to the Mastodon application, and the application has seen a significant increase in the number of new users during the month of November, as Mastodon founder Eugene Roshko said: “The application has acquired more than 489,000 new users since October 27 It now has more than a million active users.
What is Mastodon and how is it different from Twitter?
Mastodon is an open source decentralized social network that works like Twitter, where you can post (toots) instead of tweets, Boost instead of Retweet, favorite instead of like, you can follow people, companies and organizations, block and reporting others, exchanging messages, creating lists, and other usual Twitter features.
Mastodon was launched by German developer (Eugen Rushko) in October 2016, with the aim of providing a free and open source decentralized social network, and a better alternative to Twitter. Unlike Twitter, Facebook, Reddit or any other popular social networking site, Mastodon is a non-profit organization; Which means that its primary goal is to benefit the public, not to please the investors.
Being an open source social network, its original code is available to everyone and can be redistributed or modified. Independent developers can contribute to code development, find and fix bugs and problems, add new features, and translate the interface into different languages, giving Mastodon users freedom and independence. And more transparency compared to Twitter users.
And unlike Twitter, which provides a social network for blogging that the company controls only, where the company can set the usage policy, ensure the safety of the content, and more, Mastodon is made up of thousands of social networks all running through different servers that can communicate with each other through a system called Fediverse. Fediverse also has other social networks, such as PeerTube for videos, Funkwhale for music, PixelFed for photos, and NextCloud for files.
Therefore, Mastodon users can control the content that is published and set the rules for its use, and the most famous example of Mastodon is the service (Truth Social), the social network of former US President Donald Trump,
How to join Mastodon app?
Since Mastodon is a decentralized open source network, anyone can own a private copy of the service and set rules and policies that apply only to that copy or version, which is called a Mastodon server.
So you’ll need to register with a specific mastodon server, and the servers can be based on a specific geographic location, an interest in a specific topic such as climate change, some professional background, or literally anything else the server administrator can think of. For example, people in a server (dolphin.town) are only allowed to post the letter “E”, while literature buffs in oulipo.social are not allowed to use the letter “E”.
When you create your account for the first time, you can choose the server that suits you, which will appear in your personal account address, for example: If you registered with Mastodon through the Climate Justice Server, your account address will be: @[your name]@climatejustice.
But no matter what server you are registered with, you will be able to communicate with users in any other server, just like how you send an email from Gmail to a Hotmail user, and vice versa. But some servers may block other servers, which means that you cannot communicate with anyone from the blocked server.
Mastodon’s servers are operated by individuals, groups, or organizations, each with its own set of rules for how users sign up, as well as their own content moderation policies. Some servers allow anyone to join, others rely on how you send invitations to others, or Administrator approval requires, for example, a server for professional scientists that asks applicants to include a link to their research to prove that they are indeed a professional.
You can create an account on Mastodon on the Mastodon website by clicking on the “Create account” option, where you will be taken to the list of servers to choose from.
Find and join a server that interests you, and if the server requires administrator approval, you may need to wait a bit. Once you join the server of your choice you can start finding people to follow, regardless of whether they are on the same server or not.
Choosing which server to register your account can seem cumbersome, but it is possible to move your account later to any other server so there is no need to worry. In addition, you can follow people regardless of which server they are on.
As mentioned earlier you will find everything you do on Twitter in Mastodon, such as: tweets, replies, retweets, bookmarks, but under other names, but Mastodon lists work a little differently than Twitter, where you can only add people to the list if you You are already following them.
You can find a server to join at Joinmastodon.org The site currently offers 106 servers that adhere to the Mastodon Server Agreement, an agreement to enforce rules for posting according to each server, back up the site and give at least three months’ warning before closing any Servant.
What is Mastodon used for?
Mastodon is a decentralized, open-source social media platform founded by German software developer Eugen Rochko in 2016. Mastodon is free to use, has no ads and presents posts in chronological order rather than using an algorithm to predict best-matched content
What is Mastodon Twitter?
Named after an extinct elephant-like creature that last walked Earth more than 10,000 years ago, Mastodon is an open-source microblogging platform. The main difference between Mastodon and Twitter is that whereas Twitter is centrally controlled by a single company, Mastodon is decentralized.
What is Mastodon and why are people leaving Twitter for it?
Amid uncertainty over Twitter’s future following Elon Musk’s takeover, some users have been looking for an alternative social network to migrate to. Mastodon, a decentralized microblogging platform, has become a popular alternative for Twitter users looking to leave after Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media app.
What’s so great about Mastodon?
Mastodon was founded in 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram, it is a decentralised, open source, ad-free platform that is essentially made up of thousands of different servers, or “instances”, run across the world.
How do you message on a Mastodon?
The most basic way to interact with Mastodon is to make a text post, also called a Toot. In order to toot, simply enter the message you want to post into the “What is on your mind?” text box in the Compose column and click “TOOT”.
How do I find someone on a Mastodon?
Most Twitter users who set up a Mastodon account link to it on their Twitter page. You can use Twitter’s search feature to find them. Head to Twitter.com and type the word “Mastodon” into the search bar
Who owns Mastodon social media?
Mastodon servers are based on open-source software developed by German nonprofit Mastodon gGmbH
Is Mastodon an app?
Yes, it is an app
