Over the last months I’ve been spending a lot less time on Twitter, now called X, and more time on Mastodon, its open source doppelganger.
The difference between the two can be summed up in two words. No algorithm.
When you use Twitter, or any commercial social media site, an algorithm encourages you to stay online. You like fluffy bunnies? Here are posts on fluffy bunnies. You can quickly fall into a fluffy bunny rabbit hole, where fluffy bunnies are all that matters, and anyone who doesn’t like fluffy bunnies is some sick pervert. This is especially true on TikTok.
At Twitter, this is found under the tab marked “for you.” The tab doesn’t exist in Mastodon. Instead, there are other tabs. “Home” is like Twitter’s “following” tab. Federated shows the most recent posts on any site, no matter where they come from. You can input a hashtag to get news on any topic of interest, like #Ukraine. There’s also a local tab featuring messages placed on Mastodon server you are part of.
This last is important. There is no central control in the “Fediverse,” which includes many other social services, including a Facebook clone and an Instagram clone. Instead, anyone can spin-up a server or “instance” and choose who to connect or “federate” with. In practice, while Meta’s “Threads” is compatible with Mastodon, many Mastodon servers won’t link to it, fearing the force of the algorithm, the coming firehose of content, or just Mark Zuckerberg’s right hook.
In some ways this is good. The only person who can lead you down any rabbit hole of content is you. But in some ways, this is bad. It can be hard to find dissenting opinions on anything, because going beyond your own community takes work, and emotional maturity.
Many communities that are active on Twitter remain barren on Mastodon. Sports teams haven’t moved. Few people are talking about investments. Some news sites have joined Mastodon, but most have not.
You will also notice there are no ads. If you want your server to prosper, if you want them to create and enforce any kind of community standard, you need to be ready with cash and time. We’re so accustomed to social services being free that the idea of paying for them with more than just screentime seems frightening. But if you want control over that time, that’s how it must be.
This becomes Mastodon’s biggest challenge. Free services, subsidized by ads, are all most people in this world can afford. The Global South depends on Instagram and Whatsapp for visibility and communication. People there can’t afford something more than free.
That’s why Threads, which is still in its infancy, is so important. Yes, it’s Meta. But it’s also Meta. The company knows how to run a free business model, and Threads is compatible with Fediverse standards.
