Photo: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock
Some Twitter users are looking for alternatives to the social media platform in the days sinceElon Muskpurchased the company.
One of the most popular alternatives isMastodon, which describes itself as “free, open-source decentralized social media.”
Many people have been drawn to Mastodon, in part, for uncanny resemblance to the old Twitter configuration. But it operates in a much different way.
Mastodon is a “decentralized” platform: It is"not a single website"but rather a collection of servers that connect together to form a larger network. (Twitter founderJack Dorsey’s newest venture,BlueSky, is expected to be a decentralized network as well.)
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To sign up, users must firstselect oneof countless serversto join, according to BBC News andThe Guardian. Users can communicate between servers, or switch to another, as they please.
As BBC News noted, servers come in various themes, oftentimes based on countries, cities or interests. Selecting servers with people of similar interests can supposedly help build your community faster.
Rochko wanted Mastodon to be “user-friendly” and “practical for everyday use” without it belonging to “any central authority,” which he believes is part of the problem at Twitter, according to its website.
Mastodon comes withfeaturesformer Twitter users may like, such as an edit button, content warnings, a 500 character limit, custom emoticons and and “extended notification bar” as well as the option to auto-delete posts.
Mastodon says it also “respects your privacy” while giving control of the network to its users.
Users can alsoverify themselvesfor free, “because the point of verification should beabout actually verifyingwho you are,” according to the platform.
Mastodon claims to have already attracted hundreds of thousands of new users after Musktook controlof Twitter, and it still appears to be gaining traction among Twitter users looking to leave the site.
Rochko toldTimethat he is happy to see his work “finally being appreciatedand respected and more widely known.”
“I have been working very, very hard to push the idea that there is a better way to do social media than what the commercial companies like Twitter and Facebook allow,” he added.
source: people.com
