If you, like the rest of the Internet, are done with Twitter – or not – you must follow the Mastodon chatter. Because, users quitting Twitter now have a choice – an even better alternative.
Twitter was the first of its kind. No other social media platform was like it – professional, but fun, a mouthpiece for anybody seeking a global audience, and most importantly, not a cesspool of nonsensical memes and toxic misinformation. Twitter had the reputation of being the social media of intellectuals and artists, politicians and entrepreneurs, and their follower base. Post Elon Musk, Twitter is a wholly different place.
So, as people are leaving the Twitter turmoil behind, there is an emerging platform that is pulling the crowd to it – its Mastodon. Developed by Eugen Rochko, a 25-year-old entrepreneur, Mastodon is first and foremost, not-for-profit. It’s free of ads, and if you can believe it, self-moderated. It’s now possible create your own communities and make your own set of rules. It is that customizable, and for that reason, removed from the sphere of influence of other communities.
Michelle Laverick, an IT professional from Derbyshire, UK and a Field Day delegate has a deeply interesting story on the emergence of Mastodon and downfall of Twitter, and the bigger backdrop on which these are happening. She writes,
It’s no irony to me that the up-and-coming internet platform is named after a once-extinct animal whose period on earth ended some 5 million years ago. For many, it’s a refreshing reminder of the idealism of the early days of mass internet use ushered in the 90s. Oh, how sweetly naive and innocent we all were back then – with our talk of “information superhighways”. Little did we know what kind of virtual world we were constructing almost 30 years hence.
To follow her thoughts, read the rest of the article – “Mastodon and the Miocene Era of the Internet”. For more interesting stories like this, sign up to our free weekly newsletter, or watch our weekly News Rundown show.
