Until for those who’re actually within the find out about nascent platforms, you most likely didn’t know what Mastodon was till Elon Musk purchased Twitter and renamed it X. Within the preliminary aftermath of the acquisition, as customers fretted over what path Twitter would take, hundreds of thousands of customers hopped over to Mastodon, a fellow microblogging website. As time went on, customers would additionally check out Bluesky, or Instagram’s Threads app — however as a result of Mastodon was based in 2016, it had years to develop its personal identification as extra than simply an alternate Twitter.
What’s Mastodon?
Mastodon was based in 2016 by German software program developer Eugen Rochko. In contrast to Twitter, Fb, Reddit or another in style social media website, Mastodon is a nonprofit, that means that, ideally, its purpose is to learn the general public, quite than shareholders.
Mastodon may seem like a Twitter clone at first look, however the underlying system behind the microblogging platform is way extra complicated. The service is decentralized (no, not in a blockchain manner), describing itself as a “federated community which operates in an identical option to e-mail.”
While you first create your account, you select a server — much like the way you select to open an e-mail account on Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or wherever — which generates your profile’s deal with. So, for instance, for those who join Mastodon by way of the local weather justice server, then your deal with shall be @[your username]@climatejustice.social. However regardless of which server you enroll with, it is possible for you to to speak with customers from another server, similar to how Gmail customers e-mail Hotmail customers and vice versa. Nevertheless, some servers might need blocked different servers (maybe if it’s an unsavory group), which might imply you’ll be able to’t talk with anybody from the blocked server.
The Mastodon lingo
Mastodon customers typically discuss with particular person communities as “situations” or servers. These Mastodon servers may be run by people, teams or organizations that every have their very own algorithm relating to how customers can enroll, in addition to their very own moderation insurance policies. Some servers let anybody be a part of, whereas others are invite-only or require approval by an admin. For instance, a server for skilled scientists asks candidates to incorporate a hyperlink to their analysis to show that they’re, certainly, professionals.
Selecting which server to register your account with might sound irritating, but it surely’s attainable to maneuver your account later, so don’t fear. Plus, you’ll be able to comply with folks no matter which server they’re on.
You may additionally hear Mastodon described as a part of the “Fediverse,” or an interconnected net of assorted social media providers. You understand how having a Twitter account doesn’t imply you should utilize that account on Instagram? By the Fediverse, your single Mastodon account additionally grants you entry to different decentralized social networks, if that pursuits you.
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You could ocassionally see Mastodon’s equal of tweets being known as “toots,” however that is fading out of favor (because it’s form of foolish!). Many individuals are simply calling them “posts” as of late, however “toot” is usually discovered referenced in older third-party shoppers.
Mastodon helps quite a few Twitter conventions like replies, retweets, favorites, bookmarks and hashtags. For some time, Mastodon made an intentional alternative to not make a quote tweet-like characteristic, since it might probably encourage dogpiling criticism, however the platform relented and rolled out that characteristic in 2025.
As well as, Mastodon lists work barely in another way from Twitter as you’ll be able to solely add folks to a listing for those who’re already following them. And Direct messages on Mastodon are simply @username posts, not personal messages coming to a DM inbox — simply keep in mind to alter the visibility settings if you’d like that message to remain between the 2 of you.
What does it imply that Mastodon is open supply?
Anybody can obtain, modify and set up Mastodon on their very own server — plus, the builders of the platform don’t personal the copyright.
That doesn’t imply which you could seize Mastodon’s code with out acknowledging the supply, although. Former President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Reality Social, initially launched with Mastodon code and handed it off as if it have been unique software program. Mastodon didn’t take kindly to that.
How do you create a Mastodon account?
While you arrive on the Mastodon web site, you’ll be able to click on a button referred to as “create account,” which directs you to a web page itemizing servers to select from. You may filter these by varied elements, like area, language, subject, sign-up velocity and extra. There, discover a server that piques your curiosity and be a part of — if it’s a server that requires you to be permitted, you may want to attend a bit. From there, you can begin discovering folks to comply with, no matter whether or not they’re registered by way of your identical server.
In effort to attenuate confusion on new customers selecting a server, Mastodon made modifications amid the “Twitter exodus” in order that it might simpler to create an account. Now, if you go to enroll, it’s going to give a straightforward choice to create an account on mastodon.social as an alternative of selecting a server.
How do you resolve which Mastodon server to affix?
Mastodon’s web site has useful sources — but it surely’s nonetheless a bit overwhelming and difficult to discover a house base that aligns together with your pursuits. Ask mates who’re already on Mastodon if they’ve strategies! Or simply be a part of someplace random, as a result of you’ll be able to all the time change your server affiliation later when you get into the swing of issues.
Are you able to speak to folks on different Mastodon servers moreover your individual?
Sure, you’ll be able to comply with folks outdoors of your native server and reply to their posts. Nevertheless, if you need to comply with somebody on a special server, it’s important to enter their username within the search field in your server to seek out them first, then comply with them. You may’t simply go to their profile and click on the comply with button as you’ll on Twitter.
What’s the distinction between the House, Native and Federated timelines?
Your House timeline exhibits you posts from folks that you just comply with, much like Twitter. The Native timeline exhibits posts from all customers in your server, whereas the Federated timeline exhibits you all public posts from customers that individuals in your server comply with. (Trace: You may activate “Gradual Mode” in Preferences –> Look to cover timeline updates behind a click on if issues are coming at you too quick!)
What’s Mastodon’s moderation coverage?
Particular person server admins set their very own moderation insurance policies, so you must learn the coverage on the server you select to make sure it matches up together with your values.
What are the drawbacks of Mastodon in comparison with Twitter/X?
Mastodon’s consumer base is a fraction of a proportion of the dimensions of Twitter’s consumer base. It’s additionally far much less intuitive to navigate, because it hasn’t been designed for an enormous world viewers like Twitter. That might change in time as extra builders be a part of the undertaking within the wake of the Twitter takeover.
What are the advantages of Mastodon in contrast with Twitter/X?
Effectively, for one factor, Mastodon isn’t owned by Elon Musk… nonetheless, it’s going to be troublesome within the near-term for Mastodon to copy the identical “watercooler of the world” vibe that Twitter was outlined by. Some customers may favor Mastodon to X, although, because it’s extra customizable by nature. In contrast to X, particular person communities have totally different content material pointers, which give a wide range of totally different consumer experiences. And whereas the consumer base on Mastodon is smaller, this may result in extra private and direct conversations, at instances, in contrast with tweeting into the void, so to talk.
Is Mastodon safer than Twitter?
Mastodon is what you make of it. Because of its decentralized nature, in case you are in search of a extra managed on-line expertise, you’ll be able to be a part of a server with stricter guardrails in opposition to harassment. Some Mastodon options are additionally constructed with mitigating harassment in thoughts. For instance, you’ll be able to solely search by hashtag, not by phrases that seem in a toot. So if you’d like your put up to be discoverable, you’ll be able to tag it — for those who’d quite restrict the viewers, nobody can discover your tweet concerning the Crimson Sox by merely looking “pink sox” for those who haven’t tagged it.
Nevertheless, a text-based search can floor the posts you’ve written, favorited, boosted or have been talked about in, which may be helpful.
Can I put up photographs and video?
As famous above, Mastodon helps many Twitter conventions, however its assist for media is extra restricted. The place Twitter helps a wide range of media and different information appended to tweets, together with its audio-only social “Areas,” plus pictures, video, GIFs, polls, exact location and experimental “Standing” tags, Mastodon merely helps photographs, movies, audio and polls.
You may add as much as 4 photographs to a put up, as much as eight megabytes in dimension. Video and audio may be any size, however with a file dimension restrict of 40 megabytes.
Can I put up privately to mates?
Mastodon gives the power to set your put up’s privateness on the time of writing. Posts may be set to be public to be seen by all; unlisted to make them public however opted out of discovery options; solely seen to your followers; or solely seen to these customers you’ve talked about.
Can I get verified on Mastodon?
No. There’s no common verification system like on Twitter. Some servers could vet their consumer sign-ups and you’ll self-verify, in a manner, by including hyperlinks to your Mastodon profile which have a particular attribute (rel=”me”) as a way to show you might be who you say you might be.
Some servers are having enjoyable with the concept of verification in a less-than-official style. For instance, the mstdn.social server permits you to add blue-and-white checkmarks and different emoji to your show title for those who’d like, which make you look verified, although these don’t imply something. (Kind of like Twitter’s new verification system! However totally free!)
Is Mastodon right here to remain?
As of summer season 2025, Mastodon has below a million month-to-month lively customers, and round 10 million registered customers — that is to say, Mastodon is way smaller than X which had an estimated 132 million day by day lively customers. Nonetheless, not all social networks are created equal, and also you may discover that you just favor tooting about TTRPGs in a devoted server, versus tweeting right into a realm of insanity. Or, you may discover that this decentralized system is complicated, and also you’ll simply journey out the Muskening on X, or swap to Bluesky, Threads, or one thing else completely. Select your individual journey!
I’m undecided I need to go away X. Can I cross-post from X to Mastodon?
Sure, that is attainable by the use of third-party instruments. These require you to authorize your account with Twitter and Mastodon and arrange parameters. We’ve had success with Moa Get together, which lets you get particular as to which tweets or retweets are cross-posted. However different instruments can be found, together with Mastodon Twitter Crossposter, which can be accessible right here on GitHub.
Can I discover my Twitter mates on Mastodon?
Sure, that is additionally attainable with third-party instruments. We’ve seen many Mastodon customers making an attempt out instruments like Fedifinder, Twitodon and Debirdify, for instance.
Does Mastodon work with Bluesky and Threads?
It’s a no for Bluesky — not except Bluesky chooses to undertake the ActivityPub protocol Mastodon makes use of. However Bluesky isn’t planning to combine with ActivityPub, having determined to construct its personal networking protocol. There may be some skepticism among the many developer and open supply group about whether or not or not Bluesky’s resolution to go its personal manner is actually about its personal protocol’s benefits or if it’s extra about producing a spec it may ultimately management.
Threads, nonetheless, helps ActivityPub. Customers on Threads can select to share their posts with different Exercise Pub servers, together with Mastodon.