Mastodon

 

Is anyone else’s ears ringing with the advice every author receives about newsletters? Every successful author I know has told me, “Have a newsletter and maintain a copy of all the emails on it. You never know when social media sites will disappear.” This week that advice hit home. Twitter may be in trouble.

I’m no business nor social media expert, but I see some writing on the wall. If you have Twitter, I recommend you ask for an archive of your tweets. (Only if you want to keep those bad boys.) Also, you might want to jot down your followers and those who follow you. Twitter may not be long for this world, or it may be fine. Preventative action does nothing but help. Here’s a link to the Twitter help forum to ask for that archive.

Many users are turning to a new social media “microblogging” app called Mastodon. Here’s the skinny.

Mastodon is an app similar to Twitter, where users can post small messages. They used to be called “toots,” but apparently, they are now just posts. (snicker) The app works on the principle of servers. Users join a server. They can interact with others on other servers, but each has its own rules. It’s not one big app but a bunch of sites that can interact.

Posts are also different on Mastodon. Users can choose either public or private. Public posts (like tweets) are available to anyone and everyone. Private posts on Mastodon will only be seen by those who follow you. Posts are still short, up to five hundred characters (about 125 words), but the app lets users “thread” their thoughts easily by replying to their post.

The software is free and open-sourced, allowing users to add to the code. The level of security doesn’t change. Posts and accounts are secure. The open source allows users to set up their own community within the software (i.e., a server), and new users must be invited to the server. One of the popular servers is mastodon.social. If you need an in, Neil Gaiman put out an invitation to his server.

The app does not have paid verification. Users can verify their identities by linking their profile to an owned website (great for authors). You still get a nice blue check mark. But you can still be removed from the app for misbehavior. Because you are working on someone else’s server, if you violate their rules, you’re out.

I’m not recommending anyone abandon Twitter, nor am I predicting its complete downfall. But that advice about newsletters and controlling who sees my material rings in my head.

Next week, we’ll do a How-To on creating an account and navigating Mastodon.