What is Mastodon

[Ek Kanya]

Mastodon is an open source social media.

In their own words:

"Mastodon isn’t just a website, it is a federation—think Star Trek. Thousands of independent communities running Mastodon form a coherent network, where while every planet is different, being part of one is being part of the whole."

Its somewhat like Twitter, but owned by the community. While Twitter limits you to 140 characters, Mastodon allows you 500.

One of the best things about Mastodon is its community led protection against abuse, harassment and trolls, something which Twitter is either unable to or too slow to react to.

With over 2.2 million people on Mastodon, its already becoming a social media network to jump into.

[Ek Kanya]

How to use Mastodon.

First start an account at Mastodon.

You can start by joining some communities that interest you and downloading your choice of Smartphone App.

I use Amaroq on iOS.

[Ek Kanya]

You can find a collection of apps for Mastodon here.

[Ek Kanya]

Each 'post' is called a 'Toot' and you can set individual privacy settings for each 'Toot'.

When you join Mastodon, you have to join 'Instances'. For example 'artalley' or 'mastodon.social'. Typically instances are almost like 'categories' or 'interest areas'. The instance you join becomes part of your username.

For example desicreative is

Code: Select all

desicreative.artalley.social

Its very new and I will keep posting updates on how to use it.