Twitter users migrate to Mastodon, the social network that sheltered bitcoiners in 2018

A few days after tycoon Elon Musk took the reins of the social network Twitter, and given the controversial decisions he made during this period, hundreds of thousands of users decided to migrate to Mastodon.

This is a decentralized and open source platform created in 2016. In 2018 it became famous after hosting a first wave of migrant tweeters, mostly bitcoiners.

A BBC report indicates that Mastodon, created more than five years ago, already hosts 655,000 users. This figure was reached after more than 230,000 new users were added in the last week.who have reportedly left Twitter.

Ryan Wild, who runs one of Mastodon’s servers in the UK, declared That in just 24 hours received more than 6,000 new members. A situation that forced a temporary suspension of registration.

Mastodon is a decentralized social network that allows any user to manage a server. Each server has its own rules, which allow users to choose the servers they feel conform to the policies they share..

When opening an account, the new user can decide which server to register on. They are available in various locations around the world and according to different themes, such as technology, sports, or entertainment. This avoids the centralization common to platforms such as Twitter. where users tend to congregate on a single website.

In general, the social network works similarly to Twitter. You can post messages, called “toots,” of up to 500 characters and browse topics using the platform’s search function.

As reported by CryptoNews in 2018, Mastodon has been the fate of part of the bitcoin community. Twitter community that, at the time, was affected by cryptocurrency-related scam bots. Also, by censorship actions against some users..

Only in August of that year, a large number of people connected to the Bitcoin ecosystem switched from Twitter to Mastodon.. At the time, Twitter was shutting down developer accounts and network controllers were conducting a content purge.

Four years after this event, the new wave of Twitter migrants to this decentralized social network originates in Musk’s management. The billionaire now owns the platform and has allowed himself to lay off most of the staff. and plans to impose a fee of $8 a month on those who want to have the blue authentication badge on their profile.

But beware of Mastodon

Due to the large-scale migration from Twitter to Mastodon that occurred this week, some investigative organizations warned of the lack of privacy.

One example was the Social Media Lab, a laboratory dedicated to research on digital platforms, which . warned that if a person is mentioned in a Mastodon direct message (DM), that user will automatically be added to the conversation.

The lab also noted that. DMs are not private and there is no end-to-end encryptionthat is emerging on Twitter and other platforms.

That said, there are several comments on Twitter from people who, determined to take the risk, are willing to switch to another social network. One of these is. @Eamonn_Kerinswho recently opened his Mastodon account.

For him, Mastodon “is a good experience” and will be there “in the long run” as an “additional social media experience.” And while acknowledging that the platform has an atmosphere reminiscent of the early days of the Internet, thinks there is “a lot less negativity and intolerance of opinions.” as is evident on Twitter.