Twitter users jump to Mastodon - but what is it? - BBC News

In the wake of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, some users have been seeking alternative platforms.

One of the biggest beneficiaries has been Mastodon - but what is it and how does it compare to Twitter?

The platform is six years old but its current activity is unprecedented and it is struggling under the weight of new joiners.

#Twitter #Technology #BBCNews

[FM.]

There is another fantastic alternative to Twitter. It's called a life. People should try and enjoy it.

[CyborgZeta]

The only problem with switching to Mastodon en masse is that the majority of Mastodon instances are hosted by people in their free time. Their server(s) is/aren't built to handle the amount of users that Twitter has.

[XSpImmaLion]

Pretty shallow dive on the subject, but good intro overall. More for those interested:

No, Mastodon didn't just appear out of nowhere now because Twitter is a dumpster fire... it's been around for some 6 years now, and a lot of people in the privacy community has been using it... more because it's open source and not controlled by some big tech corp.

It is open source, but that doesn't mean it's a free for all. Truth Social got threatened with a lawsuit for basically taking the code from Mastodon and running with it without compliance with open source licenses. Gab is another alt right platform that switched to the same common protocol used by Mastodon. This is why it seems that these alt-right platforms have been popping up again and again so easily - they are all using open source stuff, often without attribution.

Mastodon is part of a bigger network of federated, decentralized, open source social network communities that offers alternatives not only to Twitter, but also Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and others. It's not even the only alternative to Twitter, there are several using the same standard protocol called ActivityPub. Things to look for if you are interested - Fediverse, Pixelfed, Friendica, PeerTube, diaspora, Pleroma, Hubzilla, etc.

This form of social network - decentralized, federated, open source - is far more popular in other countries such as Japan and some European nations. You didn't hear much about it if you are from the west because people don't give two sh*ts about invasion of privacy and personal data control in western nations anymore... but if you care about these things, chances are you already knew about it because there is plenty of information floating around in channels and communities that care about privacy and taking control out of the hands of tech giants.

Oh, just one other thing that I should warn people about - most of the mainstream communities and channels won't take your alt-right, politics, and conspiracy theories lightly. The BBC video is talking about some worries about moderation, but reality is that moderation in the major channels are all stricter than what you will see on the big platforms such as Twitter and whatnot. You will get banned permanently for violating code of conduct rules, and crying about it has no effect. This is one of the main reasons why alt-right and Trump follower groups are not inside Mastodon and other communities on the Fediverse, and instead chose to build their own apps and networks.
Plus, of course, grifters and scammers are very much unwelcome.

It is very much not the same thing as Twitter... it's still microblogging, but the Fediverse in general was created on the idea of having smaller, better localized, more focused communities that is separated in smaller numbers so that human moderation is possible in some level. Reason why this huge influx of people leaving Twitter to go there isn't super welcome by current Mastodon users - the creation of servers that hosts a ton of people isn't something that Mastodon users really want, because it brings back one of the problems it was supposed to solve.

But we'll see how this goes.

[jdlk]

Twitters popularity is mostly driven by the verified accounts of influencers such as celebs, politician and even companies. Not sure it works without this

[MaroonedInDub]

So the only options are Twitter or Mastadon? Why has BBC highlighted Mastadon?

[simonfox]

Hope the band Mastodon get good benefit from this. Great band.

[jaydibernardo]

From my understanding (my mother is from England) the term 'toot' in the UK means 'to pass gas'. Sort of fitting actually 😀.

[Bizarro]

I have five Twitter accounts.
Couldn't even get into mastodon on my iphone, and haven't received the email from my Android to be able to get into the damn servers or whatever.
Mastodon is in no way the next Twitter.

[peoplearestrange]

The more of us ween ourselves off the internet and ditch these smartphones the more power people take back

[imelusb]

Mastodon is just for same minded people in their own bubble so don't expect much of this.

[JogBird]

mastadon just seems like a twitter freeware and anyone can set up a server

[dr.awkward]

"I need to toot."
Sounds like a personal problem.

[GegoXaren]

Forgot to mention that the EU runs it's own Mastodon service.

[containedhurricane]

I suspect this is a Mastodon's advertisement

[thecaribbean]

You are not reporting. You are advertising. Stop it!

[gmanette]

You tube comments are as far as I go with social media

[mustbeaweful]

On Mastodon, are dissidents in countries where governments are tighter on free speech able to criticize those governments without making themselves vulnerable, much as it would be on Twitter?

I'm trying to learn some english, In 1:13, what's the "toot" mean in that sentence? Thanks!

[hnguk]

I doubt Mastodon will work out very well just due to how it is designed, and that each server/community has their own rules. If anything, it could make the political divide even worse by creating echo chambers similar to Parlor, etc

[thesamuraix]

Mastodon now exists and Google Chrome has the Tyrannosaurus. Now we need a Pterodactyl, Triceratops and Sabertooth