I created an account on Mastodon. This is not another Twitter. Elon Musk can rest easy

There has been chaos on Twitter in recent weeks. Billionaire Elon Musk, the new owner of this platform, started his rule by laying off half of the employees (later it turned out that some of them will have to be reinstated because they were fired “by mistake”).

In the meantime, which is used to verify the authenticity of Twitter accounts. The controversial businessman has also started a crusade against website users impersonating him, which shows that he treats the social platform as his private farm.

According to a study by the Bot Sentinel company published in the journal “MIT Technology Review”, in the first days of Musk’s rule Twitter has experienced a significant outflow of users. Researchers – analyzing over 3.1 million accounts a day – counted the disappearance of 1.374 million accounts in the period from October 27 (when Twitter was taken over) to November 1.

Most, because 877 thousand. accounts were deleted by users, but as many as 497,000 are accounts suspended by Twitter. . Can it threaten Twitter? I decided to check it out.

The mammoth grows stronger

Let’s start with the fact that Mastodon is not a new service. The platform was created back in 2016, but it has become loud about it only in recent days. Since October 27, the day Elon Musk announced the acquisition of Twitter, The number of website users increased by over 500,000. Currently, there are already about 1.2 million accounts on the platform.

The founder of the site is now 30 years old Eugen Rochko (actually Yevgeny), who was born in Russia, but at the age of 11 he moved with his family to Germany, where he quickly became fascinated with computer science and programming.

I realized that the method of self-expression on the Internet is too important to be in the hands of one corporation that can do whatever it wants with it

– he explained the reasons for creating Mastodon in an interview with “Forbes” magazine.

At first glance, Mastodon may seem like a service similar to Twitter. The idea of ​​this project is also to post short entries, the so-called “toots”, which may consist of a maximum of 500 characters (Twitter – 280 characters). Mastodon users can follow each other and comment, share and “like” each other’s entries. We will also find hashtags popularized by Twitter.

Mastodon photo by DM

And that’s where the similarities end. Mastodon is at its core a completely different project from Twitter, which I found out already at the stage of creating an account. After clicking on the registration button, I was redirected to a page that greeted me with the following message:

Mastodon is not a single website. To use it, you need to set up an account with a provider – we call them servers – that allows you to connect with other people on Mastodon

If Twitter is one centralized platform with a shared network of servers, in the case of Mastodon, we are dealing with dozens of private servers that operate independently of each other. As the creators of the platform explain:

Each Mastodon server is a completely independent entity capable of interacting with others to form one global social network.

Since Mastodon does not have one central server, it is supposed to be more resistant to censorship or blocking accounts. The platform is also completely open (works on the basis of open-source) and free of charge. From the very beginning, it was supposed to be an alternative to services such as Twitter or Facebook, which are dominated by corporations.

The website also convinces that users have more control over privacy. For example, there is a feature to only share content with approved users. Mastodon also claims that it does not sell user data to advertisers like Twitter does.

Mastodon photo Mastodon

How are these poor people supposed to understand this?

The idea sounds noble, of course, but it also introduces a lot of additional confusion. Each server is governed by its own rules, has its own administrators and moderators, and its own regulations. In this respect, Mastodon resembles classic messengers from a few decades ago, such as the famous IRC, not a modern social networking platform.

To avoid total “anarchy”, there is also an overriding rule that developers of all servers on the platform must follow. It assumes i.a. no acceptance of racist, sexist or homophobic content.

During registration we need to choose a server, which we want to join. Most of them are quite poorly described, and the user may have a problem understanding what it is all about. I also had a problem with this, and when choosing a server, I was guided by its graphics.

Mastodon – servers photo by DM

Eventually I landed on the Universedon.com server. However, if it turns out that this place does not quite suit me, I would have to go through the registration process again before joining another server. What’s more, we can join some servers only after our application is approved by the moderators.

After going through overly complicated process registration, I could finally start my adventure with Mastodon. And here again I felt more twitter “vibes”. I posted some test post and the site suggested me some profiles worth following.

Mastodon photo by DM

Unfortunately (no offense!) the only account that told me anything was that of MP Adrian Zandberg. Admittedly, Mr. Adrian set up his account on a different server (mast.to), but fortunately Mastodon has a feature that allows profiles from different servers to be cataloged in one hub.

I was glad that everything finally became as simple as intrigues in Remigiusz Mróz’s books. But then I got another blow to the head. It turned out that while on “my” server I can see a few new entries by Adrian Zandberg – only that in order to view his profile and read older entries, I have to move to “his” Mas.to! server, which has its own Internet address .

Mastodon photo by DM

Elon Musk can rest easy

If you have already lost the thread at this stage, then don’t worry – I don’t understand much of it either. I know one thing: in the current Mastodon formula, there is little chance to threaten Twitter’s hegemony in any way. It’s just too complicated. And if there is one thing I am sure of in life, it is that more than security, respect for privacy and freedom of speech, we value SIMPLICITY. Using a social network is supposed to be easy, convenient and fun.

Other issues recede into the background. So Mastodon can be the safest social network in the world, but if it takes me two extra clicks to review Adrian Zandberg’s thoughts, I’ll be back to simpler Twitter after a while.

Unfortunately, in recent years, no new social network (except Chinese TikTok) did not manage to exist for longer in the minds of Internet users. Do you still remember Vine? Google Plus? Or maybe Clubhouse? I wrote a few texts about the latter website, which was a real “pandemic hit” last year, and while preparing this material, I tried to remember its name for a good 10 minutes.

Although I don’t predict great success for Mastodon either (I’m afraid I’ll forget about it faster than about Clubhouse), I will quietly cheer for this platform. And I will be surprised.

And with me Elon Musk.