Top Five Alternatives to Twitter
Twitter is going to hell. Since Elon Musk took over the platform last October, he has made too many questionable decisions to list here, but among them is the account recovery of banned Nazis , charging $8 a month for blue checkmarks that previously verified a person’s identity. and now confirm that they have an extra $8 per month and on weekends limit the number of tweets users can see each day. (It used to be “everyone”, but now verified accounts can read 6,000 messages per day, unverified accounts can read 600, and new unverified accounts can only see 300 messages.) In other words, it’s time to go. But where to go?
There is no single social media platform that does everything that Twitter does (or has done before) while removing its worst features, but there are a number of promising alternatives that provide some aspects of the Twitter experience and/or remove some of them. . the things you hate the most. Here are five of the best Twitter-like networks that could be your new online home.
mastodon
If your problem with Twitter is Elon Musk’s authoritarian control over your (and everyone else’s) media consumption, Mastodon might be the network for you. Instead of a profit-oriented organization , Mastodon is a decentralized and open source non-profit organization . Instead of throwing us all into the same melting pot, the social media network allows anyone to create or join an independent server. Once you have found a server that matches your interests (or selected the default “Mstdn” server), you can also chat and follow members of other servers. This creates a Twitter-like user experience that is also decentralized and does not require a Mask.
Individual servers each moderate content in their own way, so there is no authority that can suddenly decide that a Nazi point of view is acceptable. Instead, you can choose a server with moderation policies that suit your needs and tastes , from “everything (legal) is allowed” to “no content from anyone outside of this server”.
Despite the technological and philosophical differences, Mastodon’s interface is very similar to that of Twitter, so the basic functions will be familiar. But the content in your feed isn’t curated by an unknown algorithm with motives you don’t understand. Instead, you have three feeds: “home” (posts from people you follow), “local” (posts from users on your server), and “federated” (all posts from all users), organized by post time. like Twitter when it was good. This allows you to customize your own experience instead of relying on a crazy billionaire’s idea of what you should see online.
What’s wrong with the mastodon
- Smaller user base : Mastodon has about 10 million registered users, while Twitter has about 350 million, so if you like the idea of being on a platform that everyone else is using, this is not Mastodon. At least for now.
- Harder : A user-customizable experience is good in theory, but you need to think about it, and a lot of people have enough to worry about. If your attitude is, “Just shove a few memes in front of my eyes,” Mastodon will push a lot less.
How to register in Mastodon
To register with Mastodon, you can visit the Mastodon website or download the Mastodon app from the Apple Store or Google Play Store .
If you use Twitter to keep up to date with current events, Post could be the social network for you. Users there can write and share posts, comment, like and follow others as you would expect. But Post is really a way for publishers to monetize their content. It is based on a micropayment system that allows users to buy individual news articles, set up their own paywalls for content, and receive “tips” from other users who like your content.
The Post gives you the ability to pay for individual articles from media sources such as Fortune, NBC News, Politico, ProPublica, Reuters, and others that are often behind paywalls, so you don’t have to subscribe to The Boston Globe to read this article. article. Even if a news source is free online, paying for it with the Post allows you to have an ad-free, noticeably less annoying experience and consume all your news sources in one feed. Whether the price is worth it (usually a few pennies per article) is, of course, an individual choice.
What’s wrong with the post
- This is new . Post was released in beta in 2022 and launched for iPhone on June 15th, so it’s hard to say how the actual experience will evolve over time.
- Cost: Eight cents or so for a news article doesn’t sound like a burden, but there’s something about paying anything for information online that annoys a lot of people.
- Potential Moderation Issues Allowing users to set up their own payment systems can contribute to the placement of the most disturbing and clickbait content. If the Post takes off, the moderation system will have to balance between “we welcome every vote” and “well, not this vote, actually,” which has been quite difficult for platforms in the past.
How to subscribe to a post
To join the Post network, visit the registration web page or download the app from the App Store .
streams
If you don’t like Twitter but want to create a Twitter-like social network, Meta’s Threads might be the choice for you. The threads were only launched this week, and their main difference from Twitter seems to be that it is run by another megalomaniac billionaire. You will be able to post things, comment, like things, message people, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, it seems like the philosophy is, “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” (Except that it’s broken.)
One difference that might be interesting is that Meta promises that users will have more control over their content by giving them choice in how the Threads algorithm populates feeds. So if you take Meta ‘s word for serving the best interests of your users (and why not ? ), it can provide a less terrible experience than Twitter. However, for now, user channels are populated with content that the algorithm thinks you’ll enjoy, and you can’t limit your channel to just the accounts you follow.
Another advantage of Threads is its potential audience. Since it will be linked to Instagram’s user base of around 1.5 billion people, expect the social media network to fill up quickly. Streams are also likely to be more stable than upstart, DIY-style social networks, as they have Meta knowledge and money behind them.
What’s wrong with threads?
- This is a Twitter clone from the creators of Facebook. While Meta’s product director Chris Cox reportedly said the platform would be “intelligent” even ahead of launch, the service’s privacy concerns drew criticism: a man as tall as Twitter founder Jack Dorsey posted a screenshot of the data. topics that may be collected, including health and financial information, your contacts and location, and the ominous “confidential information” trap. No bueno.
How to subscribe to topics
You will see the Threads logo on your Instagram account, which you can use to register and download the app.
Bluesky Social
Created by co-founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky Social is a decentralized social media platform that aims to give users more control over the content they create and their feeds. The network isn’t fully launched yet — it’s in an “invite-only” beta — but according to users before launch, it looks and works like Twitter, but with a key difference: users will be able to take their content with them. if they leave. All your posts, friends, messages and more can stay with you when some crazy person takes over Bluesky – as long as you migrate to a hypothetical network using the same network technology. (This doesn’t apply to Mastodon.) The decentralized nature of the service will also make it harder for you to collect and sell your data, give you ads, and other ugly activities – at least in theory. Since Bluesky hasn’t launched yet, it’s hard to say how it will work in practice.
What’s wrong with Bluesky Social
Complexity: Decentralized social networks seem like a great idea, but many users just don’t care and are looking for the easiest experience to use. There is a very real possibility that Bluesky will only be used by tech executives, media representatives and other stakeholders and never become mainstream. This means a smaller audience leading to less usage, and a familiar phenomenon that has plagued many social media hotspots in the past.
How to sign up for Bluesky Social
The Bluesky social network has not yet launched to the general public, but if you visit the official website, you can sign up for the waiting list. You can also ask for an invitation code on Twitter or buy one on eBay for around $20.
Shed
The yet-to-be-launched social network Spill has made a lot of noise on Twitter, and its name went viral this week in response to Musk’s decision to limit the number of Twitter users. The app has a unique vibe – the name refers to “tea spilling” (i.e. gossip), and it eschews the usual “appeal to everyone” social media philosophy by taking serious steps to mitigate hate and create a friendlier platform for different users. According to its creators, former Twitter employees Alphonso “Fontz” Terrell and DeVaris Brown, Spill will create a safe environment for “culture movers” to thrive, or as Kemi Marie tweeted , “The Spill app is black as hell.” I like it.”
What’s wrong with the spill
I can’t log in: I have no doubt that the content already posted on Spill is more interesting than Twitter, but Spill is not open to the public at the moment. It’s invite only, so if you don’t know someone, you can’t enter. Register this as an “intriguing opportunity”.
How to register for Razliv
You can not. However, you can join the Spill waiting list .