We explain how the social network of the mastodon that threatens to step on the bird works
The latest moves on Twitter since Elon Musk took ownership of the social network have led users to look for alternatives to a possible closure of the company. One of the candidates is Mastodon, the social network of the mastodon that threatens to step on the bird.
Like Twitter, Mastodon is also a German microblogging social network, that is, you can post short texts on it. This social network is defined as free, “radically different, back in the hands of the people” and that “it’s not for sale”, with a special emphasis on showing the users “what matters most to you, not what a company thinks you should see it.”
Mastodon works similarly to Twitter. In fact, the interface is quite similar to that of Elon Musk’s social network. The main difference from this one is that Mastodon runs on servers that are moderated by different users. This means that within the social network you can find several, which would act as groups, in which users can interact. It is a decentralized system in which “each server is a completely independent entity, able to communicate with others to form a global social network”, as explained in the network itself.
The operation of Mastodon is similar to the forums. However, just because you’re on one server doesn’t mean you can’t communicate with users who are on another server. To understand it, the social network gives the example of email systems. For example, you can create a gmail account and send an email to a person who is from hotmail. This will receive it, but you belong to different servers. For this reason, it’s important to provide your full username (alice@example) as if it were an email so that other users can find you.
Mastodon has a list of servers that you can host your account on. These are differentiated according to related themes. Within this server, you can have up to three different timelines: the mainline, the local, and the federated. In the main page you can see the publications of the people you follow. In the local, those of the users belonging to the same server. In the federated you will find user publications on other servers, which are known in Mastodon as instances that are part of the fediverse.
In addition, it is an open source network that allows any user to change the design at will, as long as it benefits the community. It has no ads or sponsor profiles, so they don’t sell your information to third parties. From this social network, they assure that they are committed to “moderation against racism, sexism and transphobia”.
How is it similar to Twitter? Once you have your account created and hosted on a server, you can track different people who are on the network regardless of where their account is hosted. This way you can see their posts in your feed, while the people who follow you see yours.
In these publications, you can include hashtags with the hashtag and see which keywords or topics are trending at the time. In addition to the topics, it has a section where you can find out which posts, tags, and news are currently gaining popularity on that server (and others).
You can also filter the statuses of specific keywords and phrases so that they are automatically hidden. Freeze, block, etc. Mastodon allows uploading of audio, video and images, polls, content alerts, animated avatars, and custom emoticons. Instead of tweeting, you now honk a button instead of a tweet.
To create an account on this social network, you must first choose which server you want to be on. You can select it on the https://joinmastodon.org/es/servers page. How to choose from so many? You can see in which region the provider is located, choose by theme (general, art, technology, activism, gaming, journalism, music, food…).
Once you have it, click create an account, if it’s public, or ask if the server is private. If the server is public, you’ll need to give yourself a display name (Alice), a username (alice@servername), your email address, and a password. Click to accept the terms and conditions and privacy policy and you have your Mastodon account.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
