Twitter users are looking for substitutes due to Elon Musk’s takeover and strange actions recently and Mastodon Social Network comes on top. For beginners, Mastodon is an open-source and free social network. Indeed, a lot of Twitter users are frustrated from Musk’s actions as he dismissed massive numbers of staff including the CEO Parag Agrawal. In fact, he has also launched a $8/month fee to retain the blue tick for verified accounts which many are calling a senseless farce.
Due to this, a major number of Twitter users have quit the platform. The list is vast with major names like Ken Olin, Toni Braxton, Shonda Rhimes, and others. If you have similar plans, Mastodon is the perfect Twitter replacement.
What is basically Mastodon Social Network?
Founded in 2016 by the German software developer Eugen Rochko, Mastodon is a free and open-source social networking platform. Since it is a non-profit service, it differs a little from other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Thus, we can infer that the motive to run Mastodon is not to earn money but to serve the people. Anyone can download, modify, and install Mastodon on their own server precisely because it is an open-source platform. However, unlike Truth Social, you must acknowledge the source.
Similar to Twitter, Mastodon has microblogging features and it runs self-hosted social networking services. Users can find a lot of nodes on the platform which are called “Instances”. These Instances run independently like Discord Servers.
How does Mastodon function?
Mastodon is not a typical social networking platform where you can just sign up for an account, add friends, follow people, and initiate interaction. Instead, it operates using individual communities called “Instances” or servers.
Individuals, groups, or organizations run these servers. Each of them exercises its own set of rules and regulations regarding the users joining and moderation policies. Some instances let anyone be a part of them while others are invite-only for specific individuals.
Any user who signs up for Mastodon must join a particular Instance and it shows in their username. For example, your username will be in this format :
@[Username]@[MastodonInstance.Domain].
Thus, your username will appear in the form of an email address.
Selecting the right server to join is a chaotic task usually when you sign up but the platform offers a plethora of options for everyone’s interest. In fact, you can find and post “Toots” on Mastodon which is similar to Tweets on Twitter. Retweets are termed as “Boosts” but there is not any substitute for the Quote Tweets feature.
The developers claim that Mastodon works as part of the “Fediverse” which is an interconnected web of numerous social networking services. From this you can deduce that your single Mastodon account offers access to other decentralized social networks.
Indeed, Mastodon is a completely safe and secure social networking platform to use. In fact, it is a free and open-source service where you can own your actions.
Also read: 5 Reasons to Ditch Cable for Satellite TV
