After purchasing it Twitter on Elon Muskmany social media users are looking for alternative platforms.

One of the biggest beneficiaries currently is open source and decentralization. mastodon, which now has 655,000 users, of which 230,000 signed up last week, according to the BBC. What is a mastodon?

At first glance, Mastodon looks like Twitter. Users can follow each other and write messages (called “toots”) that can be replied to, liked, and shared.

This is one of the reasons why he attracts new people. The platform is six years old, but its current activity is unprecedented compared to previous data and struggles under the weight of new entrants.

The Role of Servers

Despite the similarities to Twitter, Mastodon’s work is actually fundamentally different.

The first thing to do when registering is to choose a server. They are theme-based—there are many for each country, city, or area of ​​interest.

It doesn’t really matter what server you’re on because you can still follow users on everyone else, but it gives you an initial community that’s more likely to post what interests you.

Some of the popular servers are currently running very slowly due to the increased demand for them.

How do you find people?

The server you choose becomes part of your name – for example, a server in the UK has an @mastodonapp.uk suffix after the username. This is also his address where he can be found.

If you’re on the same server, you can only search using the person’s name, but if they’re on a different server, you’ll need their full address.

Unlike Twitter, Mastodon doesn’t suggest people you might be interested in. However, you can search by hashtags.

Why do servers exist?

The number of servers is because Mastodon is not a platform. It is not a “thing” and does not belong to either the person or the company. All these different servers are connected to each other and form a collective network, but they belong to different people and organizations.

This is a decentralized model, and fans of decentralized platforms prefer them for this reason – they do not depend on the decisions of one person.

However, the downside is that you are at the whim of the person or organization running their server – if they decide to leave, you will lose your account. Mastodon requires server owners to notify users three months before they decide to close their server.

Twitter’s original founder Jack Dorsey is said to be working on a new network called BlueSky and said he wants it to be decentralized as well.

How is tuning done in Mastodon?

This is a real hot potato, notes the BBC. Currently, all servers have their own rules, and some do not. Some servers choose not to connect to others that are full of bots or seem to be overflowing with hateful content. This means that they will not be visible to those who are on blocked servers. You can also refer to publications.

If it is hate speech or illegal content, then the server owners can remove the content, but this does not necessarily mean that it will be removed everywhere. This could become a major problem if Mastodon continues to evolve.

Are there ads?

There are no ads on Mastodon, although there is nothing stopping you from writing a post that promotes your company or product. Usually you see what your subscribers say, how they say it.

It’s free?

Whether you pay or not depends on the server you’re on – some ask for donations as they don’t pay, but most of them are free.

^{According to the BBC}