Following Elon Musk’s controversialTwitter buyout, some users are considering migrating to an alternative platform.
Of all the options out there, one of the most familiar and compelling options is called Mastodon.
But, we’re sure you want to know what Mastodon is all about, how it works and how it compares toTwitter. So, let’s find out.
What is Mastodon?
Mastodon describes itself as an open-source decentralized social network. It’s community-owned and completely free from advertising. Your feed is chronological and non-algorithmic, which is something increasingly rare to find on social platforms. Unlike Twitter, it’s not a single website, instead, it works as a collection of self-hosted servers that you can choose to join depending on your interests.
The mechanics of Mastodon will be very familiar to Twitter users: You can toot which is a 500-character equivalent to a tweet. You can boost, which is the equivalent of a retweet. And you can favourite, which works in the same way as a Twitter heart.
However, it’s not just a Twitter clone, Mastodon has a few features which differentiate it from the microblogging giant, mostly centred around privacy. you’re able to set up automatic post deletion, whereby posts of a certain age delete themselves. You can opt-out of search engine indexing and you can require approval before people can follow you.
How Does Mastodon Work?
As we alluded to before, Mastodon is not a single location, but rather a collection of servers or instances. Anyone with a dedicated server can run their own instance of Mastodon if they wish, and it can either be connected to the main platform or kept separate as a private server.
While the platform as a whole is decentralised, the servers themselves are controlled by their owners, so there is a degree of centralisation to the platform. However, it’s not like any of the larger social platforms, which are controlled by a single company. Mastodon’s server library will only list communities that are committed to active moderation against racism, sexism and transphobia.
When using Mastodon, your account is hosted by a single server but you may follow and talk to people from other servers seamlessly without needing multiple accounts. You can also move your account to a different server without losing any followers.
How to join Mastodon
Signing up to Mastodon is nice and easy, first visitMastodon’s communities pageand you’ll be greeted with a list of categories to choose from. The categories span all manner of topics from Art and Music to Technology and Gaming. There are also general interest servers, the most popular of which is calledMastodon.social.
Of course, no social platform would be complete without a mobile app, so you’re able to install Mastodon onAndroidoriOSfor tooting on the go. After that’s done, the platform works a lot like Twitter, so it’s time to find interesting people to follow, post some hot takes and get lost in the trends.
