After Elon Musk bought Twitter, some users were looking for alternative platforms. Mastodon was one of the most beneficial. But what is this?
That social network says it now owns it More than 655,000 users – More than 230,000 of them were linked last week.
Outwardly, Mastodon is similar to Twitter: users with accounts write messages (called “toots”), which can be replied to, liked, or forwarded, plus users can follow each other.
However, it works differently under the hood.
This is one of the reasons for attracting new users, though Causing some confusion Among the people who have just signed up.
The message from a Mastodon user humorously notes the confusion the platform can cause: “Every explanation of Mastodon comes up with something like this:” It’s very simple, your account is part of carvelinkand all carvelink They can talk to each other as part of bumblrt. At that time, everyone sends a file flattery can see your bubbles… “”.
The platform has been operating for six years, but its current activity is unprecedented, so it is struggling under the burden of new subscribers.
Here is a brief guide for you to navigate.
What are all these servers?
The first thing you should do once you sign up is to choose a server. There are a lot of those. They have their own category – a lot depends on the country, city or interest – like the UK [de Reino Unido, el país donde me encuentro]social, technology, games, etc.
It doesn’t really matter which category you choose because you will still be able to follow users from all other categories, even though it gives you an internal community with Users who are also likely to write about things that interest you.
Some popular programs – such as social networks and the UK – are currently running very slowly due to demand.
Ryan Wilding, who runs the server mastodons Through his company Superior Networks, he says he had 6,000 new subscribers in 24 hours and had to pause the subscription.
“I wanted to know the reason for all this trouble,” he said.
“I stopped the server at 10pm on a Friday evening, and woke up the next morning to find that 1,000 people I didn’t know had arrived.”
How do you find the person?
The server you select becomes part of your username – so, for example, I used my Twitter alias, zsk, and chose the UK server, which generated the username @[email protected] And this is my address on the platform, what you will use to find me.
If you’re on the same server, you can do your searches using only the person’s name, but if the person is on a different server, you’ll have to use the full address.
Unlike Twitter, Mastodon will not suggest followers you may be interested in.
You can also search Ticks.
What are servers?
Well, this is complicated, but I will try to explain it in the simplest way.
Mastodon is not a platform. It is not a single “thing” nor is it owned by any single person or company.
All these different servers are connected to each other and form a collective network, but The owners are different people and organizations.
In her post on Mastodon, Zoe Kleinman wrote: “I’m looking at my followers and I feel like I’m very slowly re-creating my Twitter community.”
This is called decentralizationFans of decentralized platforms love it for precisely this reason, as they cannot be managed, bought or sold at will from a single entity.
However, the downside is that you are instead at the mercy of the person or organization running your server, if they decide to leave your server, you will lose your account.
Mastodon is asking server owners to give their users three months’ notice if they decide to turn it off.
Incidentally, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, is working on a new network called BlueSky and says he wants it to be decentralized as well.
How is Mastodon supervised?
This is really difficult. So far, All servers have their own moderation rulesand others do not have anything.
Some servers choose not to link to others because they are full bot Or because they have a lot of objectionable content, it means that they will not be visible to those on the servers that block them.
Messages can also be reported to server owners.
If the content is hateful or illegal, the owners can remove it, but that doesn’t necessarily remove it from everywhere.
This topic will be very controversial. If this platform continues to expand.
There are already reports of people being exposed to objectionable content and the BBC has seen examples of gay abuse.
Are there ads?
No, there are no ads, although there are none Nothing prevents anyone from writing a letter promoting your company or product.
Mastodon also does not offer a structured experience, like Twitter, in terms of how your posts are displayed; You usually see what your followers say as they say.
It’s free?
It depends on the server you signed up for; Some ask for donations, because they are not paid, but they are generally free. (YO)
