Twitter has undergone several changes since business tycoon Elon Musk bought the social network for $44,000 million in October 2022. For example, the implementation of new functions, layoffs and other conflicts, as well as the launch of subscription models for companies with Twitter Blue or Twitter to obtain benefits.
These changes have caused many users to worry about how the decisions of the new aspect of the platform will affect them, and therefore It was started to look for alternatives in the face of the uncertainty of the future of the famous social network.
In this sense, another social network has emerged in this sector, which has gained new users by taking advantage of the suspicion regarding Twitter. This is Mastodon, the platform that has established itself as its main competitor.after managing to surpass one million active users worldwide in November last year.
Since then Mastodon has continued to grow and, By March 28, he had over 10.3 million accounts, 40,000 of them were created on the last day.
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Both Twitter and Mastodon are domains for microblogging and they both share some similarities such as having a character limit for posts, in this case 280 tweets 500 in the case of regular accounts and teeth of Mastodon. However, these platforms also have many differences.
the main Decentralization offered by Mastodon compared to Twitter. As security company Eset remembers, Twitter is Twitter Inc., which defines all decisions regarding the platform, policy, moderation rules, and the organization in general. It is a property managed by the company. However, Mastodon’s situation is different.
Mastodon gGmbH is a non-profit organization responsible for developing decentralized open source software.. This means that any user, whether individual or legal entity, can leverage the code to create their own “mini social networks”. These social networks are servers and have the ability to connect and communicate with each other to form a universe known as the ‘fediverse’.
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With this structure, each Mastodon server is practically independent in every respect. But, all servers eventually form a global social network structure. Also, each of these servers was created to bring users together based on common interests such as music, hobby or profession.
Another difference is the use of advertising. Mastodon organization is non-profit, The funds you receive are based on sponsorship of websites like Patreon. Likewise, individual servers may also apply this sponsorship formula or be free as agreed by their administrators.
Taking this into account, Mastodon does not host advertising content on its platforms and does not sell data. Nor does it have a timeline organized by an algorithm like Twitter does. Inside to feed Mastodon has a ‘home’ timeline of users’ posts from people they follow, a ‘local’ timeline of posts from users in the same location, and a ‘merged’ timeline that shows posts from all users using Mastodon. same server.
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on his behalf Twitter includes ads and even offers tools for: tweets promotion makes it easy for advertisers to reach the target audience of their campaigns through keywords.
Also, in its revamped main stream, it uses an algorithm that organizes posts according to different structures in the form of ‘For you’ tabs – accounts and topics followed and recommendations – and ‘Followed’ – accounts followed.
Cybersecurity company Eset also highlights content moderation as one of the key differences between the two platforms. As with Mastodon, each server manages its own social network, also choosing its own rules. regarding content that can be published. In this sense, content that those responsible for each server find to be correct or safe, or the most appropriate for users, is published.
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The approach to moderation on Twitter is very different. The rules are set by a legal team and apply equally to all users of the platform. It’s a simpler process, but from Eset they point out: this may be one of the reasons why users are finding more affinity with Mastodon, because they find more freedom in published content.
In fact, Twitter has been implementing changes in these aspects since announcing that it will implement “less drastic” measures for accounts that violate its rules, rather than directly suspending these profiles.
On the other hand, another difference between the two platforms that Eset emphasizes is the protection of user data. In the case of Twitter, the platform suffered a breach in January that allowed data leaks from over 200 million accounts.. Later, after Elon Musk’s company conducted an investigation, it stated “there is no evidence” that the leaked data was obtained from the exploitation of their system.
Such malicious attacks can lead to: phishing (to gain someone’s trust and then deceive him). In this sense, Eset remembers the amount of data each user has stored on Twitter. Even accounts that subscribe to the payment application, They are at greater risk if their personal and financial information is made public.
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Source: Exame
