Mastodon: What Twitter could of been?

Since Elon Musk bought Twitter for 44 BILLION in October 2022, the platform has become a bit of a shit-Sandwhich. That is not to say it didn’t have its problems before the purchase, but things have certainly ramped up in terms of chaos on the social network. I don’t want to make this all about Twitter and what it has become. I want to talk a little about Mastodon and how this could be what some of us have been looking for.

I had never heard of Mastodon until recently when the mass exodus of people leaving Twitter became too much to ignore. People I follow posted on their Twitter profiles that they were leaving and would not be back on Twitter while it remained in its current state. Many of these people let their followers know they can now be found at Mastodon. What is Mastodon?

So Mastodon is a social network that has been around since 2016 with a core group of loyal users; however, in 2022, its popularity blew up when he, that shall not be named, bought Twitter and proceeded to oversee one gaff after another and exert his newfound power over the platform. Mastodon is built using a decentralised network which means it is not run by one entity. Instead, it is a piece of open-source software that anybody can set up, use, and create their own server. You don’t need to set your own server up at all, but the point is, you could if you wanted to. You can follow people and see their posts, just like Twitter, and do everything you would expect a social network to do, such as @ Mentions, like posts, repost other’s “Toots”, DM with people and so on.

For me, the key attraction to Mastodon is anybody; everybody can set up their decentralised server if they want to. Meaning nobody controls it. No shareholders! No Billionaires “Space Karens”! That means no adverts, no tracking and no algorithms that feed you information it thinks you want to see (Which can be both a good and a bad thing). There are no investors to appease. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that; Twitter is a business at the end of the day, and the price you pay for the “Free” service it offers is essentially you.

Because of this, the overall feel of Mastodon is a much more honest and pleasant place to be while on the internet. It’s like the early days of Twitter, which is a good thing. There is a sense of a much more open debate with people who have differing opinions from you. The flip side to this is that not all of the people I follow on Twitter have got a Mastodon account yet.

When you first start, there is a learning curve that could put people off, such as the mastodon servers. A Mastodon server is like its own mini social network. This often has a theme such as Tech or Political. This does not mean you have to only talk about these topics, far from it. You can follow any person on any server and interact like you would on other platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. You start off by picking the server you would like to be on. Each server is operated by an individual or organisation and may be themed around a particular topic or interest area. Their servers may also vary in terms of how they are moderated and what you can or can not do. When you pick a server, you can move it if you find one you think you are better suited to at any time. You then pick your username. So I chose @mattduffy as my username and signed up with @mstdn.social as my server host. As a result, you can find me on Mastodon by searching for @mattduffy@mstdn.social. I found the whole thing confusing, and I was worried about if I could only interact with people on my server. That is not the case, and I can message and follow anybody on any server.

Even though Mastodon has been around for a while, it feels like it is only starting to get some real momentum now. It feels exciting seeing new apps and features added to it as more and more users join and developers add to the open-source software. Time will ultimately tell us if Mastodon will become something genuinely different from other social networks. But right now, I am enjoying seeing where this is going.

You can sign up for an account with Mastodon here.

If you are on iPhone, I can highly recommend the Ivory app. It looks great and works like a charm. However, it is a paid-for app, so bear that in mind.

There are plenty of free Mastodon apps out there to check out. Here is the free Mastondon app for iOS built by Mastodon.

Come and say Hi if you are on Mastodon!