Twitter users have been leaving the popular social media platform in their hundreds of thousands after billionaire Elon Musk took over last month.
The mass exodus has been taking place since the Tesla and SpaceX CEO completed his acquisition of Twitter on 27 October, becoming the new owner of the platform. The deal sparked a backlash among a large portion of users, as Musk fired swathes of Twitter staff and announced controversial changes such as charging verified users to keep their 'blue tick'.
Many users have been seeking out alternative social media platforms instead, with one of the popular choices being Mastodon - you may not have heard of this platform before, and if you have it was likely within the last few days as the software exploded in popularity with former Twitter users scrambling to sign up. Here's what you need to know about Mastodon and how it works.
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Created in 2016 by Eugen Rochko, the goal of the German software was to build a "user-friendly microblogging product that would not belong to any central authority". Mastodon seems quite similar to Twitter both in appearance and function, where users like or reply to public posts - called 'toots' - or boost them, which works in a similar way to retweeting.
The platform also makes use of hashtags, and you can search for people by using their Mastodon user name - many former Twitter users have included theirs in their Twitter bio. One of the features that has left some users cautious, however, is that mentioning someone in a DM on Mastodon automatically pulls them into the conversation.
According to the BBC, the social network now has over 655,000 users - with more than 230,000 of these having joined within the last week. Mastodon is not one platform, but a collection of servers where users can sign up according to their location, interests or hobbies.
New users will need to choose at least one server when they sign up, with lots of different themes to choose from. To sign up for an account, all you need to do is click the 'Get Started' link on its website or 'Create account' on its explore page, and the platform is also available as an app which is free to download on Google Play and Apple Store.
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