Mastodon is an open-source project, the code being freely available on GitHub (Opens in a new window). What really sets Mastodon apart isn't the toots or the boosts, it's the code. Mastodon is surprisingly smooth and robust for a homebrew project, but the cracks show in cases like this. I spent an hour searching through a timeline for a specific toot. Boosting and faving, for example, are difficult from a toot's static webpage. While you can view a toot and its responses at a static URL, just like on Twitter, it's harder to take action outside the web-based Mastodon client. Polls, quote-tweets, and analytics are just a dream. Some features from Twitter haven't made it to Mastodon. Being designed from the ground up in a post-Twitter world means that Mastodon's creator can deliver a product that benefits from Twitter's years of evolution. These are features that Twitter users take for granted, but that actually didn't launch with the service. Placing a hashtag (#) in front of a word creates an ad-hoc category that you can click on to find all other instances of that hashtag. You can respond to a toot and message other users publicly with an reply. You follow other users to have their toots flow into your feed. In most other respects, Mastodon is very much like Twitter ($0.00 at ) (Opens in a new window). (Opens in a new window) Read Our Hootsuite Review But, in as much as anything can be a microblogging service, Mastodon is one. Considering that no other microblogging service has risen to prominence, the term has as much semantic weight as several feathers. It was meant to be the general category to describe Twitter, referring to Twitter's pithy, character-limit-enforced brevity. Remember the term "microblogging?" Probably not. It is a radical vision that suggests a different kind of internet-one that, perhaps, will gain converts. ![]() Unfortunately, some of its best features (ever heard of "federation" outside the realm of Star Trekbefore today?) are confusing to newcomers, and it certainly won't eclipse other platforms anytime soon. Named in honor of the progressive metal band, it's an open-source, radically anticapitalist, and surprisingly mature Twitter-style platform that emphasizes openness and uses a distributed, federated platform. Distributed design makes sign-up, user verification difficult.įacebook and Twitter have defined a generation of the web, but free and open-source services like Ello and diaspora* have sought to provide an alternative.Zero documentation or guidance for new users.How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill. ![]()
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