Mastodon: Your Comprehensive Guide to the Twitter Alternative
Unless you're deeply immersed in the world of emerging platforms, you likely didn't encounter Mastodon until Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter (now X) sent ripples through the social media landscape. In the immediate aftermath, millions of users flocked to Mastodon, seeking a familiar yet different microblogging experience. While platforms like Bluesky and Instagram's Threads also gained traction, Mastodon stood out, having spent years – since its founding in 2016 – cultivating a unique identity beyond simply being an "alternative Twitter." This guide will delve into the intricacies of Mastodon, exploring its features, benefits, and whether it's the right social network for you.
What Exactly is Mastodon?
Founded in 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko, Mastodon distinguishes itself from giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit by operating as a nonprofit organization. This fundamental difference means its primary goal is to serve the public interest, rather than maximizing profits for shareholders. This ethos shapes its development and policies.
Decentralization: The Core of Mastodon
At first glance, Mastodon might resemble a Twitter clone. However, the underlying architecture is significantly more complex. The platform is decentralized – not in the blockchain sense, but in a way that mirrors the functionality of email. This means no single entity controls the entire network.
When you create an account, you choose a server (also known as an instance) – similar to selecting a provider like Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo for your email. This server generates your profile address. For example, signing up through a climate justice server might result in an address like @[your username]@climatejustice.social. Crucially, regardless of your chosen server, you can interact with users on any other server, just as Gmail users can email Hotmail users. However, servers can choose to block others, limiting communication between their respective user bases.
Understanding Mastodon Lingo
Mastodon users commonly refer to individual communities as instances or servers. These servers are run by individuals, groups, or organizations, each with its own rules regarding user sign-ups and moderation policies. Some servers are open to all, while others require invitations or administrator approval. For instance, a server dedicated to professional scientists might request applicants to provide links to their research to verify their credentials.
Choosing a server might seem daunting, but don't worry too much! You can migrate your account later, and you can follow users regardless of their server affiliation.
You'll also hear Mastodon described as part of the Fediverse – an interconnected web of decentralized social networks. Unlike having separate accounts for Twitter and Instagram, your single Mastodon account can grant access to other Fediverse services, expanding your social reach.
Mastodon's Open-Source Nature
Mastodon's code is open-source, meaning anyone can download, modify, and install it on their own server. Furthermore, the platform's developers don't hold copyright ownership, fostering community contributions and innovation.
However, proper attribution is required when using Mastodon's code. A notable instance of this occurred when former President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, initially launched using Mastodon code without acknowledging its source. Mastodon strongly objected to this practice.
Creating Your Mastodon Account
On the Mastodon website, you can click "Create Account," which directs you to a page listing available servers. You can filter these servers based on region, language, topic, sign-up speed, and more. Select a server that aligns with your interests and join – be prepared for a potential waiting period if the server requires approval. Once accepted, you can begin following users, regardless of their server.
To simplify the onboarding process for new users during the "Twitter exodus," Mastodon introduced a streamlined account creation option. Now, signing up directs you to an easy option to create an account on mastodon.social, eliminating the initial server selection complexity.
Choosing the Right Mastodon Server
Mastodon's website offers helpful resources, but finding a suitable home base can still be overwhelming. Ask friends already on Mastodon for recommendations! Or, join a random server and explore – you can always change your server affiliation later.
Can You Communicate Across Servers?
Yes, you can follow users on different servers and reply to their posts. However, finding users on other servers requires entering their username into your server's search box before following them. This differs from Twitter, where you can directly click the follow button on a user's profile.
Navigating the Timelines: Home, Local, and Federated
Your Home timeline displays posts from the people you follow, similar to Twitter. The Local timeline shows posts from all users on your server, while the Federated timeline displays public posts from users that people on your server follow. (Tip: Enable "Slow Mode" in Preferences –> Appearance to hide timeline updates behind a click if the flow is too rapid!)
Moderation Policies on Mastodon
Individual server administrators set their own moderation policies. Always review the policy of your chosen server to ensure it aligns with your values.
Mastodon vs. Twitter/X: Drawbacks and Benefits
Mastodon's user base remains significantly smaller than Twitter/X. It's also less intuitive to navigate, as it wasn't designed for a massive global audience. However, ongoing development and community contributions are addressing these challenges.
Benefits of Mastodon:
- Not owned by Elon Musk: A key differentiator for many users.
- Customization: Mastodon offers greater customization options than X.
- Diverse Communities: Different servers have different content guidelines, providing varied user experiences.
- Personal Connections: The smaller user base can foster more personal and direct conversations.
Is Mastodon Safer Than Twitter/X?
Mastodon's safety depends on your choices. The decentralized nature allows you to join servers with stricter moderation against harassment. Features like hashtag-based search (rather than keyword search within posts) also help mitigate unwanted attention. However, text-based search can still surface posts you've written, favorited, boosted, or been mentioned in.
Media Support: Images, Videos, and More
Mastodon supports many Twitter conventions, but its media support is more limited. While Twitter accommodates various media types – including audio-only "Spaces," photos, videos, GIFs, polls, precise location, and experimental "Status" tags – Mastodon primarily supports images, videos, audio, and polls.
You can add up to four images to a post, with a maximum size of eight megabytes. Videos and audio can be any length, but are limited to a file size of 40 megabytes.
Privacy Options: Posting to Friends
Mastodon allows you to set the privacy of your posts at the time of writing. Options include public visibility, unlisted (public but excluded from discovery features), visibility to followers only, and visibility to mentioned users only.
Verification on Mastodon
There's no universal verification system like on Twitter. Some servers may vet user sign-ups, and you can self-verify by adding links to your profile with the "rel=me" attribute. Some servers are playfully experimenting with verification by allowing users to add checkmarks and other emojis to their display names, though these have no official meaning.
The Future of Mastodon: Is It Here to Stay?
As of summer 2025, Mastodon boasts under one million monthly active users and around 10 million registered users – significantly smaller than X, which has an estimated 132 million daily active users. However, social networks aren't always about sheer size. You might find that tooting about TTRPGs in a dedicated server is more rewarding than tweeting into the chaos of X. Or, you might find the decentralized system confusing and stick with X, Bluesky, Threads, or another platform. The choice is yours!
Cross-Posting from X to Mastodon
Yes, cross-posting from X to Mastodon is possible using third-party tools. These tools require authorization for both accounts and allow you to customize posting parameters. GearTech has had success with Moa Party, which offers granular control over which tweets and retweets are cross-posted. Other options include Mastodon Twitter Crossposter, available on GitHub.
Finding Your Twitter Friends on Mastodon
Several third-party tools can help you locate your Twitter friends on Mastodon. Users are exploring tools like Fedifinder, Twitodon, and Debirdify.
Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads: Interoperability
Currently, Mastodon and Bluesky are not interoperable unless Bluesky adopts the ActivityPub protocol used by Mastodon. Bluesky has opted to build its own networking protocol, raising concerns within the developer community about potential control issues.
However, Threads does support ActivityPub. Threads users can choose to share their posts with other ActivityPub servers, including Mastodon.