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Mastodon vs Twitter

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What the #$@% is Mastodon??

If you don’t know, you are in good company… up until a few days ago, I had no idea what it was until I saw it mentioned in some obscure part of the dark web for black hat marketers (don’t ask what I was doing there). So what is Mastodon and why are people comparing it to Twitter?

Mastodon is a decentralized social media platform that was launched in 2016 by Eugen Rochko, a software developer from Germany. It is an open-source platform that allows users to create their own communities, known as "instances," which are hosted on different servers. These instances are interconnected, allowing users to communicate with one another across different instances.

If it looks and feels very much like Twitter…. that is because it was built to BE an alternative to Twitter. It has actually been around for several years, but suddenly gained some momentum last year when Elon started Tweeting about taking over Twitter. Mastadon saw a rush of new users, surging from around 250,000 users to over 4 million in a couple of months!

https://searchengineland.com/mastodon-shows-declined-growth-despite-concerns-with-twitter-392787

It has certainly been losing some momentum as evidenced in the article above, but why were people making the shift (other than despising the fact that Elon was hijacking Twitter)? It is particularly appealing to those who are concerned about privacy, censorship, and the control that centralized platforms have over user data.

There are several reasons why Mastodon became so appealing:

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1. Decentralization: Unlike mainstream social media platforms, Mastodon is decentralized, which means that there is no central authority controlling the platform. This makes it more difficult for governments or corporations to control the content and users on the platform.
2. Privacy: Mastodon allows users to have greater control over their data and privacy. Users can choose to make their profiles and posts private, and they can also choose which instances to join.
3. Censorship-resistant: Mastodon has a more liberal approach to content moderation compared to mainstream social media platforms. Instances can moderate their own communities, and there is no centralized authority controlling what content is allowed on the platform.
4. Community-driven: Mastodon is community-driven, with instances being created around specific interests or topics. This creates a more niche and personalized experience for users.

So what are the downsides? There are always downsides:

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1. Advertising: If you are planning on using it for business, Mastodon has committed to not running ads, and with decentralization, it would be hard to run effective marketing campaigns.
2. Audience size: at the time of this post, Mastodon was at around 1.5 million active users. Considerably smaller than Twitter, and less than half of where it was at towards the end of last year.
3. Onboarding: While it may look and feel a bit like Twitter, getting your account set up and following people isn’t as intuitive as you would think. Finding people to follow is best done through hashtags, not by finding profiles. When you are accustomed to Twitter, this seems like a hurdle.

Ok, so we see the pros and cons of Mastodon versus Twitter… so if you decide to make the jump from Twitter, how do you effectively use Mastodon for business? Here are some tips to keep in mind:

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1. Join relevant instances: Join instances that are relevant to your business and its niche. This will allow you to connect with potential customers and engage with a targeted audience.
2. Build relationships: Mastodon is community-driven, so it's important to build relationships with other users on the platform. Engage with users, participate in conversations, and share relevant content.
3. Be authentic: Mastodon users value authenticity, so it's important to be genuine and transparent in your interactions on the platform

So let’s wrap this up… Twitter vs Mastodon, which platform is better? If you are betting that Elon will tank Twitter, or that everyone will suddenly make the shift to another platform… you might be making a mistake. I think Mastodon will have some mild success, but in the end, Twitter is still going to be the leader for this style of social media channel.

Check back in 2024 and let’s see how many active users Mastodon has. Curious if anyone is willing to bet on what that number will be 😊