In light of Facebook’s constantly changing priorities and consequently puzzling algorithms and Elon Musk’s whims at Twitter, the question of a viable alternative refuge came to the fore.

We previously covered Geneva and Post; now let’s take a look at Mastodon.

Created by German programmer Eugen Rochko in 2016 and inspired by the idea of a decentralised public sphere, Mastodon has seen a sizable influx of users in the wake of the world’s richest person’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022. With a similar look and feel to Twitter, Mastodon’s federated nature allows users to choose their own providers, run their own servers, and connect with users on other servers across the growing network. But what does this actually mean in practice after the hype around it died down?

The rise and fall(?) of Twitter

Twitter has been a popular social media platform since its launch in 2006, counting around 450 million monthly active users as of March 2023. It has become a mainstay of the internet, and it has been used by millions of people to share their thoughts, opinions, ideas… and memes. Journalists, media outlets, and politicians flocked to the platform to reach a large audience.

However, in recent years, Twitter has been criticised for its policies and algorithms. It has been accused of hosting disinformation, fake news, and bots, as well as possibly influencing the 2016 US presidential election and playing a role in the promotion of populism, conspiracy theories. Problems intensified after the platform was purchased by Elon Musk in late 2022.

Among notable cases has been the “blue check saga”, originally Twitter’s verification process which only resumed in 2021 under new guidelines. With Musk at the helm, the organisation took an entirely different approach. In 2022, the new CEO announced a subscription product Twitter Blue costing $8 in the United States, which offers a bunch of premium features for paid users, as well as prioritised rankings – and the ability a blue check. The new program saw a botched rollout, with a poor verification system that allowed impersonators to take advantage, leading to both hilarious and market-moving consequences.

Other accusations include not doing enough to combat hate speech and harassment. Some users and critics have argued that Twitter’s moderation policies are unclear or inconsistently applied, and that the company needs to take a more aggressive stance against harmful content. The prime example is perhaps the return of Kanye West to the platform after his ban despite ongoing antisemitic statements. Admittedly, the rapper did not last long – but a recent report shows a broader rise in anti-semitism after Musk’s takeover of Twitter.

What’s Mastodon got going for it

In contrast to Twitter, Mastodon is a decentralised social media platform. It is an open-source platform that allows users to host their own servers, control their own data, and create their own communities and networks. It does not have a central authority or algorithm, nor does it censor users or topics. Instead it offers a large number of independently run nodes, known as instances, each with its own code of conduct. The platform is also seen as more secure than Twitter, as it does not collect user data or sell it to third parties.

Each instance is owned and operated by a different organisation or individual, and these instances are interconnected through a protocol called ActivityPub, which allows users of one instance to interact with users of other instances as if they were all on the same network.

As a result of this decentralised structure, Mastodon as an entity does not have a traditional hierarchical structure or centralised governance. Instead, each instance is responsible for its own policies, moderation, and administration. Instances can choose to federate with other instances or not, and can set their own community standards and moderation policies.

Mastodon as a project is overseen by a German non-profit organisation Mastodon gGmbH, which is funded by donations. The organisation provides technical support, development, and community resources to the wider Mastodon network but does not have direct control over individual instances or their policies.

Overall, Mastodon operates as a decentralised, community-driven network that values individual autonomy and local control over centralised authority – quite in contrast to the one-man show at Twitter.

What’s in it for journalists?

Some journalists have been drawn to Mastodon due to its decentralised and open-source nature, as well as its commitment to upholding user privacy. It has also become a refuge for those who want to avoid censorship on Twitter.

For example, in December, Twitter briefly banned users from including links to certain social networks, including Instagram, Facebook, and Mastodon, in their tweets. Although the platform backtracked the next day, this move may serve as a premonition for a potential future policy.

Some prominent journalism- and media-related instances or nodes on Mastodon include Journa.host, which is a “reliable home for journalists” launched on the Mastodon platform (3,000 users), and Newsie, a fast and secure public server with a large user-base of journalists, reporters, news organisations, and communication pros (20,000 users). Although there are many more media-related servers, they barely count dozens of users and some appear to have been abandoned altogether.

Some notable personalities to follow on the platform include The Washington Post technology columnist Taylor Lorenz (154,000 followers) and tech journalist Casey Newton (34,000 followers).

As for news media, it remains unclear whether any outlets are officially present on Mastodon, however a number of bots reposting news are maintained by C.IM team, including BBC, Mashable, Engadget, ABC, and NBC.

There is also a Deutsche Welle account. Although it is an “unofficial bot”, it counts 4,100 followers.

There may be a higher media presence on the platform, however due to inherent search restrictions, it is difficult to locate. One resource that proved useful for this purpose was Instances.Social.

Why it’s no match yet

Despite its growth in influence, Mastodon’s design makes it difficult to fund, and it faces competition from other social networks like TikTok and Discord. Its federated nature also means there is no single website to use, making it more difficult to navigate than Twitter.

When netizens are used to ubiquitous autocorrection and smart suggestions, it might prove difficult to sell a product where something as simple as finding people and topics of interest is a challenge due to its decentralised nature and limited cross possibilities even within Mastodon as there are thousands of servers – each with its own moderation rules.

Usage dynamics are also hardly promising. Standing at 500,000 active monthly users in late October, amid Musk’s takeover saga, Mastodon boasted almost 2,000,000 by mid-November, peaking at over 130,000 new users a day in November. However, by January, the number of active users plummeted 30% since the peak days.

As of March 2023, over 6,500,000 registered users might appear assuring, but the number of active users saw a 9% drop from 1,369,841 on 14 February to 1,248,459 on 14 March.

Besides, a recent study shows reluctance to abandon the platform of choice for many years even despite initial vows when Elon Musk eventually did take over at Twitter HQ.

A study of US journalists’ activity on Twitter reveals that they post only slightly less than before the platform was acquired by Elon Musk, despite publicised pledges to forego the platform in the wake of the controversies brought about by the new owner. Research from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism shows that “only a small handful have deactivated their accounts and the number of daily tweets has decreased just 3 percent overall”.

Moreover, monetising Mastodon – or at least financing its upkeep and potential R&D costs – might be more difficult for the founders as the platform grows. Perhaps, they could take a page out of Telegram’s book, where chief Pavel Durov kept the messenger monetisation-free for years before eventually rolling out advertisements for businesses and optional paid subscriptions for all users.

So far, while the platform took the world by storm in 2022, it appears to have run out of steam in a similar way to Clubhouse which rode the COVID stay-at-home wave. The founders made the most of the fleeting moment when negativity over Musk’s antics at Twitter peaked but haven’t lured long-time tweeters in the age of intuitive design and user-friendliness.

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Mastodon: a breath of fresh air or almost extinct fleeting hype?