Just a few months ago we included it in our selection of alternative networks due to the general malaise over the potential acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk . Now that the operation has come to fruition and that the entrepreneur threatens to make a series of changes that many do not like, the mastodon’s network begins to experience a massive migration. Isolated incident or definitive phenomenon? It is still early to say, since there is no precedent to prepare us for what is to come.
All the changes in the use of social networks experienced so far have been the product of technological evolution, which has resulted in smooth transitions. It has never been due to social factors such as a protest against the actions of its owners. It is better to be prepared for the uncertainty that lies ahead and for this reason we delve into how Mastodon works to find out if, indeed, it has what it takes to be the great successor to Twitter.
Meet Mastodon
Mastodon was born in 2016 as a microblogging social network. It is similar to Twitter in many aspects and this is precisely what has led it to be seen as its main successor in these times of crisis. The greatest resemblance can be seen in toots, which are equivalent to tweets, where people share their opinions and concerns, along with mentions, tags and multimedia content. The peculiarity here is that up to 500 characters are allowed, almost double the 280 allowed by the blue bird.
It also coincides in privacy, since users can decide if their accounts are public or private. In both cases, these are preceded by the @ so characteristic of the main networks. General similarities that facilitate the transition, but that do not prevent us from marveling at the differences, which is where the real attraction lies.
It was created by the German Eugen Rochko who, unlike the developers of the main networks, opted for a non-profit and whose main interest lies in the benefit of its public. It seems unlikely that this situation will change with the boom, since the increasing number of users was what motivated him to make this decision in the first place.
“Unlike the last 5 years where I have been running Mastodon operations as a sole proprietor, where Mastodon income was my personal income (minus all expenses), I am now an employee on a fixed salary,” he posted on his blog last year. “So my personal income will be lower, but I was willing to go down this path because I want Mastodon to have more resources for things like hiring additional developers, UX designers, developing official apps, etc., and I want there to be a cap. between raising funds for that cause and my personal income.”
Unlike the last 5 years where I have been running Mastodon operations as a sole proprietor
Its open source character also stands out. Unlike the main networks that are extremely suspicious of their codes, Mastodon has been designed so that anyone can modify their databases on their own server without making any kind of payment, since its developers do not own the copyright. One of the very few requests is acknowledgment of the source, something that Donald Trump did not do when he took advantage of this network as the basis for the creation of Truth Social, further alleging that it was original and proprietary software.