Sending a tweet has become somewhat of a norm for most of us and even just catching up on what your favourite celebrities are saying or getting in touch with retailers is now done through the popular social media platform. As you might expect the social media platform has gone through a number of changes over recent years. Each change results in mixed customer feedback as some relish the new technology sometimes intertwined with the platform whilst others like Twitter as it is and don’t think it should change.
However, the biggest change has been the Elon Musk takeover, which is likely to be something that will make history books when people talk about the internet and social media. It was rumoured for many weeks before that Elon was on a mission to purchase the platform but many didn’t believe it would actually happen. However, he took over the platform a few weeks ago and since then hasn’t been afraid to make some controversial changes. He even tweeted that some changes wouldn’t work and would need to be reversed, giving users advanced warning to expect some pretty out-there ideas to be tested.
What Changes Has He Made to Twitter?
Although it is thought to have been backtracked on, one thing that Elon announced was those with verified accounts would need to pay a monthly subscription to continue to be so. However, when it was rolled out it appeared just about anyone could set up an account of any name and get the sought-after blue tick next to their name, so Elon and the Twitter team might need to rethink this idea.
It is thought that he is playing around with the look of Twitter, with the possibility that users will be able to log in and pick which version they want to be on – including exclusive options for each of the options. He has also talked about content moderation and it is thought that this could be something that Twitter start to take more seriously. However, one of the first moves Elon made was to start to sack staff in an attempt to make the workforce much smaller and that is a decision that has not gone down well with the general public.
Using Alternatives Such as Mastodon
As you might imagine, with such controversial changes and perhaps more in the pipeline many Twitter users are keen to find a different online space to spend their time at. Whatever you use social media for, whether it’s for getting the latest news, following your favourite celebrities, or just finding out about the latest casino offers, you could be doing all this on Mastodon rather than Twitter soon.
What is Mastodon?
From the off-set Mastodon looks like Twitter. It’s a free-to-access social media service where people can post statuses (called Toots) following other people, like posts and boost tweets in order to share them in a similar way as if you were retweeting on Twitter. It is easy to assume that Mastodon is a brand new social media platform but actually it has been around since 2016; although of course twitter being the way it is currently has meant a massive boost to its popularity.
There are some cool stories behind the history of Mastodon. For example, originally to write a status and share it with others you would click the ‘publish button’. However, someone promised they would support the Mastodon Patreon account with a lifelong subscription if ‘publish’ was changed to ‘toot’ and so, sending a toot was born!
Mastodon does work a little differently from Twitter, which can take a few minutes to get your head around. However, there are plenty of helpful guides online and as more people sign up you’ll be able to get help even easier. In the background Mastodon is actually thousands of smaller social media networks hosted on different services all connected together with the Fediverse. When you want to join you’ll need to find one of these servers as your starting point. You’ll find a range of servers based on things like hobbies, industries and even geographic location to getting to this stage doesn’t need to be as complicated s it might sound. You might find that some of the larger servers have temporarily suspended new memberships so you’ll need to find one that is accepting new signups or wait for things to calm down following the recent Twitter changes. Rules can vary depending on the server you wish to join so make sure you check these out, as well as any guidelines before you join.
The sign-up process itself is much like any other – you’ll need to enter your email address and a chosen password and then verify your email address.
How to Use Mastodon
The actual idea behind Mastodon is much the same as Twitter; you can post short messages which you can then choose to share publically or with select people. There are something’s that are similar such as being able to like a post or share it with others. However, there are some differences – for example, you can include files with your status and your status can be up to 500 characters long. Each post you share can have its own privacy settings and you can do all the usual things like share using emojis or set up polls.
Will Everyone Move Over to Mastodon?
The truth is that no one really knows what will happen to Twitter in the future. It’s a very well-established Twitter and many will be reluctant to change – especially when they might lose their history of tweets. Not only that but many businesses already have scheduling software set up that works effectively, so making a change to this could be something that they want to avoid. Most people will be keen to follow the crowds, so if people do start leaving twitter and moving to Mastodon or any of the other alternatives that are out there, then Twitter might well become quiet enough to force everyone to want to make the leap.