Will Mastodon Become Twitter’s Replacement?

Over 230,000 users have joined the less well-known social network Mastadon in the past week.

Did Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter doom the social media platform to a MySpace fate? Will Mastodon be the next Twitter? What is Mastodon, and should you check it out?

I don’t know what’s in store for Twitter. But, out of curiosity, I did hop onto Mastadon this weekend to check out this lesser known platform for myself. Though the social network platform seems promising, I have to admit, it’s not as user-friendly as Twitter.

Twitter is in chaos

Twitter has new leadership, a new direction, deep staff cuts, advertisers pulling out, massive debt, and talk of switching to a subscription-based service.

Regardless of your personal feelings for Elon Musk, it’s never a bad idea to keep your options open rather than relying on one platform for everything. Especially when a popular platform seems to be heading in a downward spiral.

Mastodon to the rescue

Mastodon is a social media platform similar to Twitter but with some big differences. It’s been around since 2016, but many people had never heard of it until recently.

Founded by Eugen Rochko, according to a Twitter post, Mastodon has over 655,000 active users, with 230,000 new accounts appearing in just the past week.

“The number of people who switched over to #Mastodon in the last week alone has surpassed 230 thousand, along with many returning to old accounts bumping the network to over 655 thousand active users, highest it’s ever been!”

As of today, the number is even higher. The website shows 741K current users as of November 4, 2022.

Decentralized, multiple servers

The beauty of Mastodon is that it is decentralized and open source. It bills itself as a platform that “can’t be sold and won’t go bankrupt.”

According to a Tweet from Mastodon,

“Why choose Mastodon? Because it’s decentralized and open-source, it can’t be sold and won’t go bankrupt. It respects your privacy and gives control over the network to the people. It’s a product on top of a protocol, the way Twitter should have been.”

How do the different servers work?

When you sign up for your account, you first must choose a server. Many people find this confusing. Because the network is distributed across a host of servers, it doesn’t need the infrastructure or funding like Twitter. But instead relies on donations and sponsorships. It can’t be bought and it can’t be taken over by a billionaire.

Is Mastodon free?

Yes, it’s free to use, and there are no ads. However, some of the various servers may ask for donations. Also, users can promote their work or business in their posts.

How to get a Mastodon account?

Sign up for Mastodon on your browser, or download the app via the App Store or Google Play.

I downloaded it to my iPhone and set up my account there. The biggest difference between Mastodon and other social media platforms is the first thing you must do before setting up your account is to choose a server, which can be intimidating.

The app suggests picking a server based on your interests or region. There are various categories such as regional, art, music, journalism, activism, etc. to choose from. Some servers are available now, and some have waiting lists.

How to choose a server?

Choosing a server is what trips people up when joining Mastodon. My recommendation, pick a server and get going. You can always switch your server later on, and you can follow any user on any server.

I found this article on dataconomy.com to be extremely helpful in breaking down the details of each server. They recomend mastodon.online (general) to be the best for newcomers. However, I could not get a confirmation email for this server, so I tried again.

My second choice was mastodon.sdf.org. It’s a nonprofit server run by volunteers and funded by member donations. You can find me there at @[email protected].

Toots and boosts

To the delight of my 11-year-old daughter, tweets on Mastodon are called toots. Toots have a 500-character limit. Retweets are called boosts, and there is no quote retweeting.

Celebrities on Mastodon?

For now, if you want to follow celebrities, you should stick to Twitter. Although they may be grumbling about Elon Musk, they are all still tweeting away.

However, I did find comedian, Kathy Griffin @[email protected] and journalist Molly Jong-Fast: @[email protected] have joined Mastodon.

Trying to get the hang of it

My first attempts at Mastodon found me thinking, what is wrong with me, why doesn’t any of this make sense, and shouldn’t this be easier?

It turns out I’m not the only one with these thoughts. I’m going to leave you with some of my favorite tweets I’ve seen regarding Mastodon.

What do you think? Have you tried Mastodon? Were you able to figure it out or did it seem overly complicated?

If you are there, follow me if you can find me @[email protected]!

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