Whenever I mention Mastodon and the Fediverse to my friends and family, I invariably get blank stares and confused looks. Alas, they have no idea what I am talking about.
I’ve always wanted to be able to share with them an article about all the advantages of the Fediverse over the walled gardens of Big Tech. So that, whenever they invariably confess they are not familiar with these concepts, I could say: “if you want to learn more about Mastodon and the Fediverse and why they are so great, I can send you a link.”
I never came across a guide for “normies.” So I wrote one. Right here.
Let me know if you find it useful and if there’s anything I can improve. And I hope it will be useful to you, Fediverse people, to get more of your friends and contacts on here.
- 🕰️ A chronological feed: no algorithms dictating what you see
- 💬 Ethos: truly connecting people. The platform is not harvesting your content for AI training
- 🪧 No advertising
- 📱 Superb third party apps
- 🖥️ Best web client
- ✔️ Forever free verification
- 📝 List support
- ️️# Multiple hashtag support
- 📦 Take your followers with you
- 🕸️ Interoperability with other Fediverse entities
Let's dive in.
1: 🕰️ A chronological feed: no algorithms dictating what you see
✅ Mastodon
⚠️ Facebook
⚠️ Instagram
⚠️ Threads
⚠️ X (formerly Twitter, RIP)
People on social media often reminisce about the “golden era” of social platforms, when the content appearing on one’s feed was ordered chronologically.
Nowadays for-profit social platforms use algorithmic feeds to keep users’ eyeballs on screen, constantly scrolling, so that users will see more content and - crucially - more ads. That is the business model of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn and all for profit social platforms. Sure, you can click on a toggle to display post chronologically, but "For You" algorithmic feeds are on by default. Thus the ⚠️ sign.
Recently Instagram users have been lamenting how their followers rarely see the content they post - because the app’s algorithm hides their posts. Here is a common complaint:
Mastodon - a federated microblogging site - shows content in chronological order. If you follow an account, you will always see their posts in your feed, ordered chronologically. There are no algorithms surfacing “engaging” content for you to keep you endlessly scrolling.
If you are curious to see which are the most popular posts of the day - for everyone on the Fediverse - you could do so by clicking on the “Explore” tab of Mastodon.
2: 💬 Ethos: truly connecting people. The platform is not harvesting your content for AI training purposes
✅ Mastodon
❌ Facebook
❌ Instagram
❌ Threads
❌ X
Mastodon is free, open-source software with an ethical ethos at the core of its service. Its goal is truly to connect people - unlike commercial social media platforms, who aim to:
- make money through targeted ads
- harvest user content to train their AI large language models (LLM)
You think I’m exaggerating? Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads - announced on June 10th 2024 that “We’re using content that people have chosen to make public to build our foundational AI model that we release openly" (source).
Thankfully the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) shut that down real fast - for users residing in the European Union. Still, content harvesting persists for Americans and other users around the world who are posting on Meta's apps.
X (formerly known as Twitter) has the chatbot Grok available for its premium users; its owner boasts that Grok has “real-time access to info via the 𝕏 platform, which is a massive advantage over other models.” In short, Grok is harvesting Twitter data.
Unlike the other Big Tech social media companies mentioned before, Mastodon doesn’t harvest user data to train AI models.
3: 🪧 No advertising
✅ Mastodon
❌ Facebook
❌ Instagram
✅ Threads (for now)
❌ X
Mastodon doesn’t display any ads - unlike X, Facebook and Instagram.
You may say: “Threads doesn’t do it either!” Yes sure, FOR NOW. Do you think Mark Zuckerberg created a new text-based social media platform out of the kindness of his own heart?
I see Threads as being beneficial to Meta in two ways: as another potential tool to run digital ads… OR… even if ads don’t ever appear in the app, the amount of data it is gathering will be incredibly useful to train its AI model called Llama.
Also: Threads is tied to Instagram (they share login information) so anything a user types on Threads could be used to build a detailed profile to serve relevant ads on Instagram.
4: 📱 Superb third party apps for your smartphone
✅ Mastodon
❌ Facebook
❌ Instagram
❌ Threads (for now)
❌ X
Mastodon has superb third-party apps available for smartphone users.
On iOS, I use Ivory daily. The app subscription costs about 18 Euros a year… but if you want to use a great free app, there is also Ice Cubes.
On Android, I’ve been using - and greatly enjoying - the official Mastodon app, but Tusky is also great.
This is a routine reminder that Elon Musk shut down third party app support when he took over Twitter. So if you want to use X, you can only do so with the official X app.
If you want to use Instagram, Facebook or Threads, you can only do so via their official apps. No third party apps are allowed.
Last week Threads announced the release of an API to allow posting to Threads from social media management platforms (like Buffer and Hootsuite), but its functions are really limited.
Why would you use a third party app, you may wonder?
On Mastodon’s Ivory, I use a filter - that I can turn on and off - to remove “boosts” (the old re-tweets) from the timeline, so that I only see original posts by people I follow. This is not possible on X or Threads. So if you follow a lot of people, your timeline may be inundated by “boosted” messages showing content of users you are not following… and are not interested in.
5: 🖥️ Best web client
✅🏆 Mastodon
❌ Facebook
❌ Instagram
✅ Threads
✅ X
I have been on social media since its early days: I’ve had accounts on MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Twitter (RIP). During my time on the bird app, I would frequently use Tweetdeck on my desktop computer; it made navigating through Twitter content a much more organized experience, especially because of my use of lists (see point no.7).
When Threads announced the release of a Tweetdeck-like web interface, journalists and media people I follow on there shared euphoric responses, calling the feature a “game changer”. What does it look like? You can pin multiple columns like “for you” “following” or any given topic you are interested in - in my case “Fediverse Threads”:
That’s it.
Mastodon has a far superior web client: phanpy.social, created and maintained by the Singaporean developer Chee Aun. It’s actually the BEST web client I have ever used. Its features are so brilliant that Phanpy is singlehandedly responsible for my uptick in Mastodon use. It makes the whole Mastodon experience incredibly enjoyable.
Phanpy's standout feature is Catch-Up.
You can “catch-up” with older posts, with granular controls. You were offline for 3 hours? You can see which posts you missed from the past three hours by moving a slider. Then an interface will appear, with icons showing accounts you follow and a number that corresponds to how many posts they published in the past 3 hours. The photos of these account holders are organized in descending order based on how many posts they published. The interface is reminiscent of Instagram Stories but the circles with users’ photos have useful information: how many posts they published since you went away… and you can browse their content in an advanced way. You can click on “original” (and ONLY see posts made by the accounts you follow), “boosts” (read reposted content) and “Replies”.
A “Top Links” toggle at the top makes a carousel appear, showing the most popular links that have been shared by the people you follow.
I am simply blown away by how phenomenal Phanpy is… considering it was created and is run by ONE person. In contrast, Meta’s Threads has a team of 60 engineers. And yet Phanpy is so much better.
6: ✔️ Forever free verification
✅ Mastodon
❌ Facebook
❌ Instagram
❌ Threads
❌ X
If you want a blue checkmark on X you need to pay approximately $8 a month or $84 a year. Instagram charges $14.99 a month for it.
On Mastodon, verification is free. Now and forever. You simply need to add a few lines of code to websites you own and control to get a green checkmark.
7: 📝 List support
✅ Mastodon
❌ Facebook
❌ Instagram
❌ Threads
✅ X
Do you ever feel overwhelmed while browsing social media, trying to catch up with posts from many people, with content grouped together indiscriminately?
List support made Twitter shine. I used to have over a dozen private lists on the platform, grouping users by theme: friends, people in film, journalists, activists, Parisian museums…
Yes sure, X still has lists but it has turned into a right wing incel hangout. Threads doesn’t allow you to organize profiles you follow into lists (at the time of writing).
Mastodon has lists - and they make my reading experience so much more enjoyable! For example, I have a list called “FediWomxn” grouping content of all my favorite womxn on Mastodon, so I don’t miss any of their posts.
8: # Multiple hashtag support
✅ Mastodon
✅ Facebook
✅ Instagram
❌ Threads
✅ X
Hashtags turn words into clickable links. Here I would like to focus on text-based social media platforms: I’m discarding X by default because of its devolution since Elon Musk’s takeover. So, let’s check how Threads and Mastodon compare on this issue.
Threads for now doesn’t support real hashtags: you can select one word or phrase from your post that you turn into a "clickable topic" - just one.
Conversely, Mastodon supports multiple hashtags, which power content discoverability. I have gotten my posts in front of many new people thanks to strategic hashtags.
On Mastodon you can even follow hashtags in your feed. An example: I LOVE the writings of the late Neil Postman. I am following #NeilPostman on Mastodon so every time someone uses the hashtag, the post appears in my feed (even if I am not following the poster’s account).
9: 📦 Take your followers with you
✅ Mastodon
❌ Facebook
❌ Instagram
❌ Threads
❌ X
As I mentioned in my post “Introducing: The Future is Federated”:
Afraid of a chaotic, sociopathic billionaire taking over your favorite social network and destroying it from the inside out - making you lose important connections you built over 15 years? This could never happen on the Fediverse or on Mastodon. Assuming a bad actor takes ownership of your favorite instance, you could simply start a new account on a different instance and take all your followers with you:
10: 🕸️ Interoperability with other Fediverse entities
✅ Mastodon
❌ Facebook
❌ Instagram
❌ Threads
❌ X
Imagine posting a photo on Instagram and having it appear immediately on X – with comments to the photo syncing between X and Instagram. As you know, this is not possible: the two social media platforms operate as closed silos.
The same is true for apps that belong to the SAME company: if you post a photo on Instagram, it will only stay there… and can’t be automatically posted on Threads or Facebook. If someone comments on it on Instagram, the comment stays there... and if you post the photo on Threads, new Threads comments will appear on there but won't sync with Instagram.
In order to post to multiple platforms in a few clicks you could use a social media management tool like Buffer and Hootsuite… but comments to the post wouldn’t be shared and updated live across platforms.
What makes the Fediverse so special? The galaxy of entities that make up the Fediverse are interconnected and interoperable.
The Fediverse’s answer to Instagram is called Pixelfed - and as you know Mastodon is the Fediverse’s answer to X and Threads. Here is how interoperability works.
On Mastodon, I follow the Pixelfed account of @dansup – its creator and developer. Whenever he posts a new photo on his Pixelfed account, the photo shows up in my Mastodon feed. And the comments sync between platforms (Mastodon and Pixelfed).
4 steps to understand Fediverse interoperability:
Step 1: @dansup publishes a new photo on Pixelfed.
Step 2: The photo appears in my Mastodon feed (because I'm following @dansup's Pixelfed account on Mastodon)
Step 3: someone comments on @dansup's photo on Pixelfed
Step 4: the Pixelfed comment appears under the photo on Mastodon as well!!!
Isn't this amazing?
I hope I managed to build a persuasive case of the many ways Mastodon is the best social media platform there is.
If you found this post useful, please share it widely (especially with people who aren’t on Mastodon yet).
Thank you for being here,
Elena
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