Mastodon is a microblogging social network platform that was born in 2016, but began to be noticed after Twitter was acquired by Elon Musk and renamed X. Although it has been around for a long time, Mastodon still maintains its own appeal and is more interested in the context that many users are searching for less noisy online spaces as it is today.
Unlike centralized social networks, Mastodon operates in a decentralized model, consisting of multiple independent servers operated by the community or organization.
Users when registering will choose a server that suits their interests, each place has its own regulations and censorship methods. However, they can still monitor and exchange with users on other servers. This operating method helps limit the spread of malicious content on a large scale, while giving more control to the community.
Mastodon does not use content suggestion algorithms and has almost no advertising. The display timeline is mainly based on accounts that users follow, making the experience slower and easier to control. This is also a point that makes this platform less attractive to the majority, but it is suitable for people who want to focus on exchanging and discussing instead of chasing interactions.
Although the user size is still small compared to large social networks, Mastodon is still considered a noteworthy model in the trend of decentralized social network development, where privacy and community role are prioritized.
In terms of experience, Mastodon supports familiar features such as posting posts, replying, sharing, tagging and tracking other users. However, this platform does not use content-proposing algorithms like X, the number of users is also less, and the interface is less user-friendly.
In return, Mastodon is highly appreciated for its personalization, limited advertising and reduced "noisy" pressure often seen on major social networks. For those looking for a slow discussion space, less dominated by algorithms and commercial interests, Mastodon is becoming a worthwhile choice in the context of constantly changing global social networks.
