The rush to leave Twitter
Mastodon is the new Twitter (even thought it’s been around since 2016). At least that is what I have been reading. I decided to give it a try since I wasn’t having any luck with Twitter (GFBus Twitter) other than a few likes and fewer ‘re-tweets’. I had promoted random tweets, hash tagged different topics but still only got a few looks and even less clicks.
I downloaded Mastodon. I think I am pretty ‘tech-savvy’ but I was confused as to what I was suppose to do. I searched for instructions on how to proceed and finally decided to join the mas.to server (Mastodon). {Note: Think of a server as a group of users sharing a common room of a building. This sounds restrictive but this does not limit you from communicating across different rooms.} I chose this instance because I read that it had a good amount of users, but I had also read that it didn’t matter which server you joined, you could still communicate with everyone across the Fediverse.
I joined using the same name “Gay Friendly Businesses” , posted a welcome message and immediately got a like. I thought, “now this is more like it”. But that was it. One.
I posted some more and nothing happened. No likes, no looks, not comments – good or bad. As I researched more, I read that the Mastodon.lol server is more LGBT oriented so I was going to transfer my account to that server. But I could not find a way to do this since it appeared that this particular server jumped from 8k users to 75k in less than a month. So all new memberships are on hold.
I am not sure if there is a benefit to be on one server vs. another, but I will continue to try for Mastodon.lol just because it feels right (LGBT promotion, and all).
I think the lack of random views may be a good thing: Mastodon is a calmer micro blogging platform than twitter, and those that do see your toots will likely have a more wholesome interaction since users have to seek out common interests among other users.
So? What is Mastodon?
Mastodon is a group of nodes or “instances” that run on a decentralized network – meaning, not one person or company controls it. Each node is independently ran but can communicated with other nodes. Anyone can create a node and set the governing rules for that particular node.
Signing up
To sign up you go to https://joinmastodon.org/ choose create account and then choose various filters to find a server that interests you. It may seem overwhelming but after choose what region you want your server to be in, you choose among different interests. But again, no need to overthink it – choose one to get started. Then choose a username and set up your profile. After a bit of poking around, you will become familiar with its functions and what it does.
Look Us Up!
We are on Mastodon at Mastodon. Hope to see you there!
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