Twitter vs Mastodon: which social network reigns supreme?

Twitter is a well-known social media site where people can send and read short messages called “tweets.” It is a central platform where users can make an account, follow other users, and get their own timeline where they can see tweets from accounts they follow and interact with them. Twitter is known for being real-time, so people can use hashtags and mentions to keep up with news and trends and join public conversations. The platform also has features like retweets, likes, and direct messaging. People, organizations, and public figures use it a lot to share information, give their opinions, and interact with people all over the world.

Mastodon, on the other hand, is a network of connected instances of a decentralized social media platform. It is an open-source platform where users can join specific instances or make their own, each with its own community and rules. Mastodon has features like Twitter, like the ability to post messages (called “toots”) that are limited to a certain number of characters. Users can follow other people, talk with them, “boost” posts (which is like “retweeting”), and use hashtags. Through its decentralized structure, Mastodon aims to give users more control over their data and privacy, as well as a more varied and community-based social media experience.

Twitter vs Mastodon Pricing

The rise of Twitter Blue has been a big reason why people are leaving Twitter. More specifically, Twitter just announced a change to the service that will give users a better spot in the notifications tab, early access to new features, and that highly sought-after “verified” status for $7.99 a month. Unlike other subscription services, this doesn’t mean you won’t see ads when you scroll through Twitter. Ads and sponsored posts will still be a big part of how the app makes money.

Mastodon doesn’t have a subscription service right now, and there aren’t any ads for “prioritized” posts that would show up in your feed. That is, if you want to join a server that is already running. If you want to host your own server, prices start at $6 per month for small groups and go up to $89 per month for communities with up to 2000 members. Maston is mostly paid for by “sponsors,” which are people and businesses that give money to the app through Patreon or Mastondon’s website. In return, sponsors can use Discord to talk about how Mastodon is being made. If they give more money, they can also add their name and logo to the list of Mastodon’s sponsors.

Twitter vs Mastodon Comparison table

Twitter vs Mastodon User interface

Twitter’s user interface is clean and simple, with an emphasis on making it easy to use. The platform is made to be easy to use and understand, with a clean layout and clear ways to get around. By default, a user’s timeline, which is made up of tweets from accounts they follow, is shown in chronological order, but they can switch to an algorithmic feed if they want to. Twitter has a lot of features, like the ability to reply, retweet, like, and share tweets, as well as use threaded replies to have conversations. The user interface looks nice and is focused on making it easy to get to popular topics, hashtags, and user profiles.

Mastodon, on the other hand, has a more flexible user interface because it is not controlled by a single company. Each instance of Mastodon can have its own user interface, themes, and options for personalization. Even though the basic functions are the same in each case, the look and feel can be very different. Mastodon has a layout based on columns, with columns for the timeline, notifications, and other options that can be changed. The interface lets users reply to posts, “boost” (which is like “retweet”) them, and mark them as favorites. Mastodon also puts a lot of emphasis on building communities and finding new things to do. For example, you can join or make communities, follow specific topics, and talk to users across instances.

Twitter vs Mastodon Privacy

As a centralized platform, Twitter has control over its users’ information. This means that Twitter owns and has control over the information that its users create. Twitter has some privacy settings, like the ability to make tweets private or limit who can see your account. However, users don’t have much say over how Twitter uses their data for advertising and analytics. Twitter also uses targeted ads based on how users use and interact with the site.

Mastodon, on the other hand, is a platform made up of many separate instances that are not controlled by a central server. Each instance has its own set of rules and guidelines, which gives users more control over their privacy. Mastodon’s privacy settings are more detailed, so users can choose who can see their posts and control how public they are. Also, because user data is spread out across different instances, there is no single authority that owns and controls all user data. Users can have more privacy and control over their information with this decentralized structure.

It’s important to keep in mind that, even though Mastodon’s decentralized nature could be good for privacy, the level of privacy can change from one instance to the next. The people in charge of an instance can make their own rules for moderation and privacy. Users should learn about the privacy policies and practices of the instance they want to join to make sure they match their own privacy preferences.

Twitter vs Mastodon Features

Both Twitter and Mastodon let people sign up, build a following, and share text, images, videos, audio, and polls with other people on the site. “Toots” are Mastodon’s short answer to “tweets.” Mastodon, on the other hand, shows tweets in the order they were sent. Twitter uses an algorithm to do this. Hive Social and other up-and-coming Twitter competitors have also taken this stance.

Twitter has more features now than it did in the past, likely because it has been around longer. Spaces are audio rooms, Communities are places to talk about specific topics, and Moments are collections of popular topics that Twitter puts together in the Explore tab. Mastodon user names are also a bit more complicated. Twitter handles can be short and catchy, but Mastodon names have to include the user’s server, which makes them longer and harder to remember.

Twitter: Pros and Cons

Mastodon: Pros and Cons

Which one should you consider?

Twitter and Mastodon work so differently that it’s hard to say which one is better. If you want a service with a lot of features and a catchy username, stick with Twitter. But Mastodon is worth a look if you want to leave the site and are interested in the idea of a decentralized social media site with no ads.

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