A newbie’s information to Mastodon, the open supply Twitter different

Except in the event you’re actually within the learn about nascent platforms, you in all probability didn’t know what Mastodon was till Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X. Within the preliminary aftermath of the acquisition, as customers fretted over what direction Twitter would take, hundreds of thousands of customers hopped over to Mastodon, a fellow microblogging web site. As time went on, customers would additionally check out Bluesky, or Instagram’s Threads app — however as a result of Mastodon was based in 2016, it had years to develop its personal identification as extra than simply an alternate Twitter.

What’s Mastodon?

Mastodon was based in 2016 by German software program developer Eugen Rochko. Not like Twitter, Fb, Reddit or every other in style social media web site, Mastodon is a nonprofit, which means that, ideally, its aim is to learn the general public, slightly than shareholders.

Mastodon would possibly appear to be a Twitter clone at first look, however the underlying system behind the microblogging platform is way extra complicated. The service is decentralized (no, not in a blockchain approach), describing itself as a “federated community which operates in the same solution to electronic mail.”

Once you first create your account, you select a server — much like the way you select to open an electronic mail account on Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or wherever — which generates your profile’s handle. So, for instance, in the event you join Mastodon by way of the local weather justice server, then your handle might be @[your username]@climatejustice.social. However irrespective of which server you join with, it is possible for you to to speak with customers from every other server, similar to how Gmail customers electronic mail Hotmail customers and vice versa. Nevertheless, some servers may need blocked different servers (maybe if it’s an unsavory group), which might imply you may’t talk with anybody from the blocked server.

The Mastodon lingo

Mastodon customers typically consult with particular person communities as “instances” or servers. These Mastodon servers could be run by people, teams or organizations that every have their very own algorithm relating to how customers can join, in addition to their very own moderation insurance policies. Some servers let anybody be part of, whereas others are invite-only or require approval by an admin. For instance, a server for skilled scientists asks candidates to incorporate a hyperlink to their analysis to reveal that they’re, certainly, professionals.

Selecting which server to register your account with may appear tense, but it surely’s attainable to maneuver your account later, so don’t fear. Plus, you may comply with individuals no matter which server they’re on.

You may additionally hear Mastodon described as a part of the “Fediverse,” or an interconnected net of varied social media companies. You know the way having a Twitter account doesn’t imply you need to use that account on Instagram? By means of the Fediverse, your single Mastodon account additionally grants you entry to different decentralized social networks, if that pursuits you.

Chances are you’ll ocassionally see Mastodon’s equal of tweets being known as “toots,” however that is fading out of favor (because it’s sort of foolish!). Many individuals are simply calling them “posts” today, however “toot” is usually discovered referenced in older third-party shoppers.

Mastodon helps various Twitter conventions like replies, retweets, favorites, bookmarks and hashtags. For some time, Mastodon made an intentional choice to not make a quote tweet-like feature, since it may encourage dogpiling criticism, however the platform relented and rolled out that characteristic in 2025.

As well as, Mastodon lists work barely otherwise from Twitter as you may solely add individuals to an inventory in the event you’re already following them. And Direct messages on Mastodon are simply @username posts, not non-public messages coming to a DM inbox — simply keep in mind to vary the visibility settings if you’d like that message to remain between the 2 of you.

What does it imply that Mastodon is open supply?

Anybody can obtain, modify and set up Mastodon on their very own server — plus, the builders of the platform don’t personal the copyright.

That doesn’t imply you could seize Mastodon’s code with out acknowledging the supply, although. Former President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, initially launched with Mastodon code and handed it off as if it have been unique software program. Mastodon did not take kindly to that.

How do you create a Mastodon account?

Once you arrive on the Mastodon web site, you may click on a button known as “create account,” which directs you to a page listing servers to choose from. You’ll be able to filter these by numerous elements, like area, language, matter, sign-up velocity and extra. There, discover a server that piques your curiosity and be part of — if it’s a server that requires you to be accepted, you would possibly want to attend a bit. From there, you can begin discovering individuals to comply with, no matter whether or not they’re registered by way of your similar server.

In effort to attenuate confusion on new customers selecting a server, Mastodon made adjustments amid the “Twitter exodus” in order that it might easier to create an account. Now, while you go to enroll, it would give a straightforward choice to create an account on mastodon.social as a substitute of selecting a server.

How do you determine which Mastodon server to affix?

Mastodon’s web site has helpful resources — but it surely’s nonetheless a bit overwhelming and difficult to discover a residence base that aligns along with your pursuits. Ask mates who’re already on Mastodon if they’ve options! Or simply be part of someplace random, as a result of you may all the time change your server affiliation later when you get into the swing of issues.

Are you able to discuss to individuals on different Mastodon servers moreover your personal?

Sure, you may comply with individuals outdoors of your native server and reply to their posts. Nevertheless, while you wish to comply with somebody on a distinct server, it’s important to enter their username within the search field in your server to seek out them first, then comply with them. You’ll be able to’t simply go to their profile and click on the comply with button as you’ll on Twitter.

What’s the distinction between the Dwelling, Native and Federated timelines?

Your Dwelling timeline reveals you posts from individuals that you just comply with, much like Twitter. The Native timeline reveals posts from all customers in your server, whereas the Federated timeline reveals you all public posts from customers that folks in your server comply with. (Trace: You’ll be able to activate “Sluggish Mode” in Preferences –> Look to cover timeline updates behind a click on if issues are coming at you too quick!)

What’s Mastodon’s moderation coverage?

Particular person server admins set their very own moderation insurance policies, so you need to learn the coverage on the server you select to make sure it matches up along with your values.

What are the drawbacks of Mastodon when put next with Twitter/X?

Mastodon’s person base is a fraction of a proportion of the dimensions of Twitter’s person base. It’s additionally far much less intuitive to navigate, because it hasn’t been designed for a large world viewers like Twitter. That would change in time as extra builders be part of the venture within the wake of the Twitter takeover.

What are the advantages of Mastodon in contrast with Twitter/X?

Properly, for one factor, Mastodon shouldn’t be owned by Elon Musk… nonetheless, it’s going to be troublesome within the near-term for Mastodon to copy the identical “watercooler of the world” vibe that Twitter was outlined by. Some customers would possibly favor Mastodon to X, although, because it’s extra customizable by nature. Not like X, particular person communities have completely different content material pointers, which offer quite a lot of completely different person experiences. And whereas the person base on Mastodon is smaller, this will result in extra private and direct conversations, at instances, in contrast with tweeting into the void, so to talk.

Is Mastodon safer than Twitter?

Mastodon is what you make of it. Resulting from its decentralized nature, if you’re searching for a extra managed on-line expertise, you may be part of a server with stricter guardrails in opposition to harassment. Some Mastodon options are additionally constructed with mitigating harassment in thoughts. For instance, you may solely search by hashtag, not by phrases that seem in a toot. So if you’d like your submit to be discoverable, you may tag it — in the event you’d slightly restrict the viewers, nobody can discover your tweet in regards to the Purple Sox by merely looking out “crimson sox” in the event you haven’t tagged it.

Nevertheless, a text-based search can floor the posts you’ve written, favorited, boosted or have been talked about in, which could be helpful.

Can I submit photographs and video?

As famous above, Mastodon helps many Twitter conventions, however its help for media is extra restricted. The place Twitter helps quite a lot of media and different information appended to tweets, together with its audio-only social “Areas,” plus images, video, GIFs, polls, exact location and experimental “Standing” tags, Mastodon merely helps photographs, movies, audio and polls.

You’ll be able to add up to four images to a post, as much as eight megabytes in measurement. Video and audio could be any size, however with a file measurement restrict of 40 megabytes.

Can I submit privately to mates?

Mastodon affords the power to set your submit’s privateness on the time of writing. Posts could be set to be public to be seen by all; unlisted to make them public however opted out of discovery options; solely seen to your followers; or solely seen to these customers you’ve talked about.

Can I get verified on Mastodon?

No. There’s no common verification system like on Twitter. Some servers could vet their person sign-ups and you may self-verify, in a approach, by including hyperlinks to your Mastodon profile which have a particular attribute (rel=”me”) with the intention to show you might be who you say you might be.

Some servers are having enjoyable with the thought of verification in a less-than-official vogue. For instance, the mstdn.social server lets you add blue-and-white checkmarks and different emoji to your show title in the event you’d like, which make you look verified, regardless that these don’t imply something. (Form of like Twitter’s new verification system! However without cost!)

Is Mastodon right here to remain?

As of summer time 2025, Mastodon has underneath a million month-to-month energetic customers, and round 10 million registered customers — that is to say, Mastodon is far smaller than X which had an estimated 132 million each day energetic customers. Nonetheless, not all social networks are created equal, and also you would possibly discover that you just favor tooting about TTRPGs in a devoted server, versus tweeting right into a realm of insanity. Or, you would possibly discover that this decentralized system is complicated, and also you’ll simply trip out the Muskening on X, or change to Bluesky, Threads, or one thing else totally. Select your personal journey!

I’m undecided I wish to go away X. Can I cross-post from X to Mastodon?

Sure, that is attainable by the use of third-party instruments. These require you to authorize your account with Twitter and Mastodon and arrange parameters. We’ve had success with Moa Party, which lets you get particular as to which tweets or retweets are cross-posted. However different instruments can be found, together with Mastodon Twitter Crossposter, which can also be accessible right here on GitHub.

Can I discover my Twitter mates on Mastodon?

Sure, that is additionally attainable with third-party instruments. We’ve seen many Mastodon customers making an attempt out instruments like Fedifinder, Twitodon and Debirdify, for instance.

Does Mastodon work with Bluesky and Threads?

It’s a no for Bluesky — not except Bluesky chooses to undertake the ActivityPub protocol Mastodon makes use of. However Bluesky shouldn’t be planning to combine with ActivityPub, having decided to build its own networking protocol. There may be some skepticism among the many developer and open supply neighborhood about whether or not or not Bluesky’s resolution to go its personal approach is de facto about its personal protocol’s benefits or if it’s extra about producing a spec it may ultimately management.

Threads, nonetheless, supports ActivityPub. Customers on Threads can select to share their posts with different Exercise Pub servers, together with Mastodon.