Mastodon

About

Mastodon is an open-source social network similar to Twitter created in response to unpopular updates to the latter. Key differences between Mastodon and Twitter include that the former uses a 500 character limit as oppose to Twitter's 140, Mastodon does not run ads, and there are granular, per-post privacy settings.

History

Mastodon^[4] was developed by Eugen Rochko in response to recent unpopular Twitter updates, such as an algorithm-driven timeline as opposed to a chronological one.^[1] Rochko named the app "Mastodon" after the metal band of the same name and announced its launch in October of 2016 on Hacker News. Although very similar in visual style to Twitter, the site allows a 500 character limit and its posts are called "toots" instead of "tweets. It also makes hate-speech related to Naziism a bannable offense, which has long been a common complaint for Twitter (Rochko is from Germany, and in Germany Naziism is illegal). Mastodon acquired 24,000 users in its first 6 months of use.

Developments

After the unpopular Twitter Replies update which made it such that usernames no longer counted against Twitter's character limit, Mastodon experienced a spike in new users, causing them to block new users from joining as of Tuesday, April 4th until they can guarantee a good user experience. Around this time, it began generating media attention in the tech world, gaining coverage from Vice's Motherboard,^[2] The Verge, and Select All.^[3] Select All in particular marveled at how so far, Mastodon had not been invaded by Nazi trolls, though it did not seem optimistic it would stay that way.^[5] Furthermore, The Verge reminded its readers of sites such as Ello that attempted to serve a similar function to Mastodon, but failed, suggesting that Mastodon may be bound for the same fate.

Search Interest

External References