My endorsed social media alternative

This post is about Mastodon. I've been on it since December 2022. I think it's a good choice for social media and I hope that more of my friends will go there.

The pluses for me:

• No ads
• No vitriol
• Interesting "Toots" (other sites would call these "tweets", "postings" or something else) from people in Ottawa, science fiction and fantasy writers I like, and others including my city councillor
  
• Comments on health, climate and politics that are sane and based on reality
• Open support of trans and queer people, people with disabilities, people of colour, and everyone who is increasingly facing hate on the corporate platforms
  
• I see all the toots from the people I follow, not just the ones that an opaque algorithm chooses for me
• I'm a desktop guy and there's a desktop site Phanpy that I find entirely acceptable for keeping up with people's Toots.
  

The cons for me:

• Most of my friends are still on the corporate platforms that are already enshittified or will eventually become enshittified (and sorry, but I agree with Cory Doctorow that there is nothing preventing Bluesky from going bad)
  
• It's been a bit complicated (but it's getting better all the time) 
  

Why Mastodon is better than the corporate platforms

Unlike X, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram and all the others, Mastodon is not controlled by a single corporation trying to make money off the people who use it. It is driven by many "servers" or "instances" that are each owned by different individuals or organizations. The servers are linked or "federated" in something people call the "fediverse".

Each instance is moderated by its owner. And the owner can block instances that are allowing hateful stuff to go through.

So, you do have to choose a good instance.

But, here's the thing, if your instance goes bad, you just move to another instance and you take all of the people who follow you and who you follow with you. Easily. It's not like when you leave X or Facebook and you lose your connections with everyone.

Some possibly useful links

• Me at Ottawa.place: https://ottawa.place/@dscrimshaw
  
• Phanpy - the reader site I use several times a day: https://phanpy.social/#/
  
• A guide site I follow with useful tips: https://fedi.tips/

Apps

I'm an Android guy, so have no advice for Apple people. And I use my desktop not my phone to keep up with Mastodon. Still I have two apps loaded on my phone.

• Tusky has a reputation for being nice for reading
  
• Mastodon sends me notifications when one of my toots gets liked, boosted or replied to, or when someone new follows me, and I can quickly check for new toots when something is going on in the world (which wasn't really a good thing for me at 4am on November 6, 2024)

Intro Video

If you're still curious, you might find this 3-minute video to be of interest: