Since
Elon Musk completed a $44 billion deal to
purchase Twitter on October 27, he has struggled to assuage concerns about a
potential proliferation of misinformation and hate speech on the platform. Amid
the brouhaha, some Twitter users have sought out alternative social media
platforms. A popular one is Mastodon, which has an estimated 4.5 million
accounts.
اضافة اعلان
On Monday, Musk, 51, tweeted at least three derogatory
comments about Mastodon before deleting the posts. Here is what to know about
the social network.
What is Mastodon?
Launched in 2016 by software developer Eugen Rochko,
Mastodon describes itself as a “free, open-source decentralized social media
platform” that aims to be “a viable alternative to Twitter.” The platform is
named after an extinct relative of mammoths and elephants.
Its software was developed by Mastodon gGmbH, a German
nonprofit led by Rochko. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
Being open source means that Mastodon’s original source code
is publicly available and can be redistributed and changed. People can
contribute to the code that underpins Mastodon by finding and fixing bugs,
adding new features, and translating its interface into different languages.
Anyone can create his or her own version of Mastodon, known
as a server, with rules and regulations that apply only to that version. Those
are enforced by the people who use that version.
The way that Mastodon operates has raised issues. Right-wing
social networks Gab and Truth Social have used Mastodon’s code, which the
company opposed. Mastodon has acknowledged that being free and open source
means giving up the ability to choose who can use it.
Mastodon can be used through a web browser or through its
apps for iPhones and Android devices. At least 20 third-party apps have also
been developed for access to Mastodon.
How does Mastodon differ from Twitter?
Twitter is a single social network, which means that people
sign up for and share content only on Twitter. Mastodon is what is known as a
federated platform, meaning it is a collection of social networks — or servers
— that link together but are owned by different people or groups.
Mastodon is a part of the Fediverse, or federated universe,
a group of federated platforms that share communication protocols.
Unlike Twitter, Mastodon presents posts in chronological
order, rather than based on an algorithm. It also has no ads; Mastodon is
largely crowdfunded. Most servers are funded by the people who use them. The
servers that Mastodon oversees — Mastodon Social and Mastodon Online — are
funded through Patreon, a membership and subscription service platform often
used by content creators.
Although Mastodon visually resembles Twitter, its user
experience is more akin to that of Discord, a talking and texting app where
people also join servers that have their own cultures and rules.
Unlike Twitter and Discord, Mastodon does not have the
ability to make its users, or the people who create servers, do anything. That
includes establishing content moderation or rules for what posts to keep up and
what to take down.
But servers can dictate how they interact with one another —
or whether they interact at all in a shared stream of posts. For example, when
Gab used Mastodon’s code, Mastodon Social and other independent servers blocked
Gab’s server, so posts from Gab did not appear on the feeds of people using
those servers.
How do you join Mastodon?
To join Mastodon, you sign up for an account on a server.
This website will be home to your account, profile, and feeds. Some websites
allow immediate registration, while others require an approval or an
invitation. There are at least 4,000 independent servers, according to
estimates by fediverse. party. Many servers are topical, ranging from one for
“all the ravers in the universe” to one for Britain.
Like an email account, your username includes the name of
the server itself. For example, a possible username on Mastodon Social would be
[email protected]. Regardless of which server you sign up with, you can
interact with people who use other Mastodon servers, or you can switch to
another one. Once you sign up for an account, you can post “toots,” which are
Mastodon’s versions of tweets. You can also boost other people’s toots, the
equivalent of a retweet.
Setting up your own server is more complicated. You have to
host it yourself, which requires a website, a virtual computer system connected
to the internet, and an email provider. Your computer also needs to install
some security protocols and programming languages. With those in hand9, you can
download Mastodon’s code. There are providers dedicated to hosting and running
Mastodon servers. The company also has detailed instructions for those
interested in setting up their own server, which is not necessary for joining
or using Mastodon.
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