Tag: what is mastodon

Why Everyone’s Tweeting About the Mastodon in the Room
Technology

Why Everyone’s Tweeting About the Mastodon in the Room

[ad_1] This federation of social media servers offers a great alternative, but it can’t replace Twitter’s blue bird. Elon Musk — also known as the world's richest man — is either single-handedly running Twitter Inc. into the ground, or saving it from a bloated workforce that operated a money-burning hellscape. Whichever side you fall on, and if you're on Twitter you have to take a side, there's no doubt he's had thousands of users rushing to find an alternative. So far, the surrogate receiving the most attention is Mastodon, a German social network that until a month ago few had even heard of.  In the time it took for Musk to officially take control of Twitter in late October until Sunday, 1 million more people had flocked to the Mastodon network, driving active users above 1.7 millio...
What is Mastodon? A social media expert explains why it won’t be a new Twitter
Technology

What is Mastodon? A social media expert explains why it won’t be a new Twitter

[ad_1] In the wake of Elon Musk’s noisy takeover of Twitter, people have been looking for alternatives. In the wake of Elon Musk's noisy takeover of Twitter, people have been looking for alternatives to the increasingly toxic microblogging social media platform.Many of those fleeing or hedging their bets have turned to Mastodon, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of new users since Twitter's acquisition. Like Twitter, Mastodon allows users to post, follow people and organizations, and like and repost others' posts. But while Mastodon supports many of the same social networking features as Twitter, it is not a single platform.Instead, it's a federation of independently operated, interconnected servers. Mastodon servers are based on open-source software developed by German nonpro...
Mastodon: What is the social network hailed as a Twitter alternative?
Technology

Mastodon: What is the social network hailed as a Twitter alternative?

[ad_1] Mastodon, a decentralised, open alternative from privacy-obsessed Germany, has seen a flood of new users. With Twitter in disarray since the world's richest person took control of it last week, Mastodon, a decentralised, open alternative from privacy-obsessed Germany, has seen a flood of new users."The bird is free," tweeted Tesla mogul Elon Musk when he completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. But many free-speech advocates reacted with dismay to the prospect of the world's "town square" being controlled by one person and started looking for other options. For the most part, Mastodon - named after an extinct breed of mammoth - looks like Twitter, with hashtags, political back-and-forth and tech banter jostling for space with cat pictures. But while Twitter and Faceboo...