Twitter users who are worried that Musk’s free speech ideals will lead to more online abuse are also leaving the platform. As they search for alternatives to Twitter, one social media platform stands out. This is Mastodon, which claims to be the “largest decentralized social network on the Internet.”
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What is Mastodon?
Founded by developer Eugen Rochko, Mastodon was released in 2016. The social media platform’s main appeal was that it was decentralised, open source, and represented a vision of what its founder wanted Twitter to be. Rather than being controlled by a CEO or a centralised moderation team, Mastodon users pick “servers” which host their data and let them access the same platform.
Servers are organised by general or specific topics, including “LGBTQ+,” “Activism,” and even “Furry.” Some are open to join while others require users to get on a waitlist. Anyone can submit a server for consideration, in the ambit of Mastodon’s rules. The platform is ad-free and has its timeline arranged in chronological order, rather than relying on an algorithm like Twitter did.
“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,” Mastodon tweeted on October 28, the day when the court ordered Musk to close the Twitter deal.
How similar is Mastodon to Twitter?
While Twitter’s theme revolves around birds, Mastodon has chosen the furry elephant-like mammal that became extinct around 10,000 years back, as its mascot.
Mastodon users can send “toots” that can be up to 500 characters in length. Users have their own handles and they can share media, re-share toots, favourite them, and bookmark them. Servers have their own administrator.
However, Mastodon’s relatively tiny user pool has discouraged people from joining. They are also concerned about the complicated server structure and a social media set-up that looks more fragmented when compared to Twitter. Furthermore, there are complaints about the user experience and overloaded servers.
Can Mastodon be the new Twitter | Photo Credit: Mastodon
Are people using Mastodon?
Mastodon tweeted on Thursday that over 2,30,000 users had switched to its platform and that old accounts were being re-activated. There was a 71% increase in monthly active users, to reach 6,83,000 on November 5, according to its website.
Servers were also up by 17%, totalling more than 3,000 in number.
Mastodon still has a long way to go to catch up to Twitter, which has millions of monthly active users - many of whom are monetisable. Some of Mastodon’s early adopters include activists, journalists, and researchers who wanted a Twitter-like experience but one that was less toxic.
“Our organization will only point you to servers that are consistently committed to moderation against racism, sexism, and transphobia,” Mastodon claimed on its website.
However, the platform faced challenges that it could not fully control. In 2019, the far-right social media community Gab used Mastodon’s code to build its own network. Mastodon slammed Gab for its views and distanced itself, but admitted that it cannot choose who would use its software.
This raises the question of whether advertisers, brands, and promotional accounts will look at Mastodon as a Twitter replacement.
What is the Indian connection?
In late 2019, several anti-caste activists and accounts claimed that Twitter censored accounts belonging to marginalised caste and tribe users, and did not take measures to stop those spreading casteist abuse.
Twitter India addressed what it called a “perceived bias” in a statement but claimed it was impartial. Several Indian Twitter users suggested a shift to Mastodon, believing it might take stronger action against caste discrimination and trolls.
Can Mastodon be the new Twitter | Photo Credit: Mastodon
Around the same time, Rochko announced that Mastodon was adding “casteism and advocation of casteism” to its extremely prohibited offences list. However, the Indian migration from Twitter to Mastodon was not impactful.
Almost three years later, after a significant part of the Twitter India team was fired, Mastodon saw thousands of hourly mentions on Twitter. On Monday, Rochko “tooted” that Mastodon had crossed one million active monthly users.
Still, it is uncertain whether this is the start of a social media exodus.
(This article has been updated to reflect the growth of Mastodon’s active monthly users)
- Founded by developer Eugen Rochko, Mastodon was released in 2016
- The social media platform’s main appeal was that it was decentralised, open source, and represented a vision of what its founder wanted Twitter to be
- Servers are organised by general or specific topics, including “LGBTQ+,” “Activism,” and even “Furry.” Some are open to join while others require users to get on a waitlist
- Mastodon users can send “toots” that can be up to 500 characters in length
- However, Mastodon’s relatively tiny user pool has discouraged people from joining
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