Like many nerds, I’ve been spending the last week (when I wasn’t too ill to care) watching Elon Musk do to Twitter what Liz Truss did to the UK economy, in about the same time frame. I’ve also spent the week building up a community on Mastodon. I actually joined back in March after seeing Aral Balkan tweet about it, and because I’m a) a nerd and b) an inveterate tryer-outer of new platforms, I signed up. You can find me at @antoniam@mastodon.scot.
I’ve seen lots of joke articles like this one in the Poke about how hard it is, but it made sense to me once it was explained that it’s like email – even if you’re on a different server (gmail v hotmail for example), you can still connect.
There are services like Debirdify (pruvisto.org) that can help you find people you follow on Twitter that have moved over. There are also some useful blog-posts being written and as I come across them, I’ll add them to the list below.
I know what many people are bemoaning is having to start again, but I’m actually finding that refreshing. When I first started becoming active on Twitter, in 2009, I was working at the Commission’s representation in London, trying to find new ways to have conversations about the EU in the UK. That’s not the realm I operate in now. So I’ve had to think about what I want to talk about with the world, and identify those key themes that I want to connect with people to learn about, or share. For now that is organisational issues, future of work etc, and a bit of Europe, with occasional yarn thrown in. Pretty much like the blog then!
I have also joined Tribel, but haven’t really gelled with that. Engagement seems really low, not that I can identify why. And it does seem to be as much of an echo chamber as Truth Social, in its way.
The turn that Twitter is taking in Musk’s hands is really worrying, so it’s good to have an alternative. If you make it over, come and say hi!
Update: One of the things I meant to say in this post (and forgot, blame the cough) is neatly summed up in this toot:
I started with the Mastodon app, then got Mast ($) and at the moment am sort of using both as they each do some things better than the other. Will try out Metatext as well and let you know what I think.
Resources
4 Twitter features Mastodon is better for not having – Scott.mn
From Twitter to Mastodon – The Law and Policy Blog (davidallengreen.com)
Mastodon: What is the social network hailed as a Twitter alternative? – EURACTIV.com
Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse