Want to quit Twitter? These social networks are now receiving new users.
Some criticize Musk for disseminating untruths, for the spike in hate speech that followed his appointment as CEO, for firing half of Twitter workers, and for restoring the account of former President Donald Trump. Some predict that the site will go offline completely at some point as a result of the departure of many of the company's engineers. Others simply claim that the website's heyday has passed.
In any case, over the past two weeks, Twitter has had a very “Closing Time” vibe, with many seasoned users heeding Semisonic's advice that they don't have to go home but they also can't stay here.
Many Twitter users have talked about moving their musings elsewhere since Elon Musk acquired the social networking site in October, and some have already done so.
Mastodon
which was founded in 2014, has gotten the majority of attention recently and has grown significantly in terms of users. As of Tuesday, according to Mastodon, there were more than 2.5 million active monthly users. Esteban Moro, a data scientist, claims that last week, one day saw nearly 180,000 new users sign up for Mastodon.
So what exactly is Mastodon?
It is an open-source, decentralized social media platform. A community that can connect to other Mastodon servers can be started by anyone, who can also launch and host their own Mastodon server. Because it is open-source, anyone is free to use, change, and redistribute the program's code as long as they abide by the terms of the license.
The basic help page for Mastodon has more information about the organization. The statement on that page is: “Mastodon is not Twitter.” It claims that the website won't pressure you to follow particular users and that Mastodon doesn't place a strong emphasis on how popular or viral a post is: “Having real conversations with people here is crucial”.
Each server has its own set of guidelines and moderators, who can act as the server's gatekeepers by selecting new members. Although instances (also known as users) may form around particular interests, such as one for journalists, cyberpunks, or food and wine aficionados, instances can generally interact with one another. You don't have to choose the ideal community right away because you can create accounts on multiple servers.
Hive Social
The 2019-founded mobile app Hive Social is accessible on Apple devices and is now in beta on Android. It claims not to use “shadow banning” or prioritize particular users and instead provides a chronological feed (as opposed to the algorithm-based feeds of many popular apps).
What you used to love about social media will be brought back, according to the app, in a fresh form. Hive has some elements that harken back to a simpler time, specifically the Myspace era, such as profile music. It also emphasizes photos a lot, similar to Instagram or Tumblr.
Hive Social is expanding quickly in the midst of Twitter's chaos, much like Mastodon did, despite appearing to be run by just two people and hustling to raise money.
On Wednesday, Hive Social topped the list of free social networking apps in the Apple App Store. Hive announced on Monday that it had reached one million “Besties,” and on Tuesday, it claimed that despite its email verification process failing, it had gained 250,000 users overnight.
Hive's growth was applauded on Twitter by new users, though some bemoaned the absence of a desktop application or website and claimed to have had trouble signing up and choosing a username.
Post
Noam Bardin, a former CEO of Waze, established Post with the goal of fusing social media and news in a similar way to Twitter. The website is directly appealing to Twitter users who are leaving by promising content moderation, the freedom to post anything, and “a civil forum to debate views.”
When did it not waste your time, make you mad, or make you sad? When was the last time you disagreed with someone without being abused or humiliated? With Post, we aim to bring that back “Bardin published a message on the website's home page.
Since there is now a lengthy queue to join Post, it is challenging to see what it offers. The website had 180,000 people on its waitlist as of Tuesday night, 20,000 people had been invited to join, and 16,000 users had activated their accounts, according to an email update.
Similar to Hive, the site's small workforce is having trouble meeting demand. Bardin stated that the “platform is holding up great,” but advised users to use caution when choosing a username because they won't be able to alter it for a while. He also advised customers that email support inquiries will not receive a response for a few days.
Bardin acknowledges that the website is still “half baked,” lacking features like the ability to look for individuals to follow and, once that functionality is available, a tailored feed of the users you are following. That's a lot of photos of cats and dogs, as you can probably guess.
Legacy social media networks social media platforms
Of course, a large portion of Twitter users also uses other social media sites. They might use other well-known social networks more or in a different way as a result of Twitter's uncertain state.
There are still sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and Tumblr, each with its own peculiarities and moderation problems. They might not have the same claim to “town square” status that Twitter has occasionally approached, but they share some of the same features, such as news, entertainment, community, and endless feeds of content, to varying degrees.
Can any website support the same communities and discussions that grew during the peak of the bird app's popularity? The answer is still uncertain, but many people are hoping it is.
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