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Cover image for Have you moved from Twitter to Mastodon for social media?
Nick Taylor
Nick Taylor

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at nickyt.co

Have you moved from Twitter to Mastodon for social media?

I created a Mastodon account on toot.cafe back in 2017, but I only did a little with it.

I tooted a bit then came back to Twitter, but this time, it feels like a mass exodus, at least for folks in tech.

The user experience is definitely different from Twitter, but even with its clunkiness, I have started to enjoy it.

Although I'll be tooting, for the most part, I've realized that some folks use Twitter as the main point of contact with me, so I'll still be checking DMs over there and still Tweeting (just not as much as tootin'). I'll probably also be more active on LinkedIn too.

Another exciting development is some ex-Twitter employees have started their own Mastodon instance, macaw.social. Thanks for linking it to me Arthur Melo!

Some resources you may find handy if you're new to Mastodon:

If you're on Mastodon, feel free to drop your handles in the comments so others can give you a follow over there. You can find me at @nickytonline@toot.cafe.

What are your thoughts on Mastodon and are you considering, if you haven’t already, moving over there?

I'll end with this.

Don’t feel under pressure to leave Twitter if it still brings you benefit. As soon as it becomes clear that it doesn’t, feel confident that you can leave Twitter and it’ll be fine.

– Andy Bell from his post Free of the bird

Photo by redcharlie on Unsplash

Top comments (26)

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codenameone profile image
Shai Almog • Edited

I created an account a month ago but today I moved completely. Deleted my twitter handle from all of my slides and tried to add Mastodon everywhere. Thanks to moa.party it's really easy to migrate and still keep twitter running on low ice. There are also some pretty cool tech community focused instances like foojay.

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andrewbrown profile image
Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

I made one a few years ago in a technology-focused instance only to see that the owner shut it down due to health issues so I had to create a new account on @mstdn.social

A few instances have been spinning up more related to my cloud space but I'm wary of the owners so I get in my head if that if I'm going to do anything that I'll need to spin up my own instance and then I guess federate into others?

Honestly, I think I'm just going to wander the vast social media landscape and just drop things here and there lol.

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andrewbrown profile image
Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

mstdn.social is one of the larger server and its ran by a single person...

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Moving servers for me its not about the content its about the followers.
So looks like when you move it "redirects" folks, but I would imagine they need to refollow you? I have to keep investigating

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nickytonline profile image
Nick Taylor

Yeah, for that I'm not positive.

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andrewbrown profile image
Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

@nickytonline That feed finder was useful.

Linode has a single click install:
youtube.com/watch?v=d1mzUYzoolg

There is a bunch of managed hosting providers to run your own:
docs.joinmastodon.org/user/run-you...

I think what I'm going to do is just turn my brain off and use a managed provider, set the server to be private or invite only while I learn this stuff.

Buy yeah, maybe instead of paying $8 USD (1000 USD) a month on Twitter Blue its should just go to my own managed instance.

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alohci profile image
Nicholas Stimpson

I was late to Twitter, and no doubt I'll be late to Mastodon. For me, its all about where the content is, and if those providing the content I want to read move to Mastodon, I'll likely follow them. So far. I'm not convinced that's happened, but it's getting closer.

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andypiper profile image
Andy Piper

Like you, I’ve been there since ~2017 - at the time, as @andypiper@mastodon.social but I recently moved to @andypiper@macaw.social

I have been enjoying it. I’ve been through a few phases, from sign up and early exploration, to not using it for a while, to cross-posting using moa.party between Twitter and Mastodon for a while; since April when the Musk bid was put in, I’ve spent more time there deliberately first, rather than being on Twitter first.

In the past couple of weeks the population has grown and it has become a lot more engaging. I’ve also ended up doing 3 or 4 impromptu training / info sessions for different groups of friends!

Definitely more friction than something like Twitter, but there’s plenty to like.

I’ve now uninstalled the Twitter apps from my devices and I don’t intend to be spending time there actively - sadly - more to come on my personal journey over the past few weeks.

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andypiper profile image
Andy Piper
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rjrobinson profile image
R.J. Robinson

UPO -- Mastodon is great for small communities. maybe even medium communities like software as a whole - But twitter is still going to be around. All the doom and gloom right now will pass, it'll figure itself out.

I have a mstd account w/ ruby@social , but don't use it. Im actually finding myself on twitter more than ever.

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peterwitham profile image
Peter Witham

I'm in the process of moving over to Mastodon. What that means in practice is making it as clear to folks that follow me on Twitter, where and how to find me on Mastodon.

I'm finding that folks are confused by all the instances in the usernames, which I see as a problem, but I am actively posting and using it more with very little new content on Twitter.

I have noticed more and more people in the development community using it, which is heartening since that's really my main use to communicate with them.

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teclado profile image
Teclado • Edited

Hi! Thanks for the post, you all can find me as teclado at paquita.masto.host.
Nevertheless I'm looking right now for a spanish-speaking developer-friendly instance that suits better. Ideally a spanish one where I could follow some other topics. I'm open to suggestions in this sense.

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steveblue profile image
Stephen Belovarich

Yep! I’m done with Twitter.

Ill be tooting about front end web dev, web components, creative coding, tech, indie rock, cinema, and more!

Follow me on Mastodon at
indieweb.social/@iplayitofflegit or search for @iplayitofflegit@indieweb.social

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grantdotdev profile image
Grant Riordan

I find Mastadon all too confusing and convoluted. Finding servers, creating a count for individual servers / regions.

It's a no from me unfortunately.

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ddaypunk profile image
Andy Delso

Yep moved over there as well: @andy@androiddev.social

I will probably post dev related things (Android currently) and photography stuff. Shoot me a follow!

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fyodorio profile image
Fyodor

Too clunky IMO. Honestly tried several times but it was too tormenting even at the login stage

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codenameone profile image
Shai Almog

The login and following old friends are the most painful parts. But once your in it's pretty nice. Not as smooth as twitter, but in some regards that's an improvement. Less noise, simpler engagement. It's also improving a lot. When I first tried it the signup was a nightmare and a month ago it was smooth. Might be harder now since instances are overloaded.

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darksmile92 profile image
Robin Kretzschmar

I joined in 2018 and sadly my instance is shutting down 1st of December because the admin is not able to maintain it anymore.
I'm glad he is not just handing over quickly to someone else.

Now looking for a new instance to migrate to I recognized a lot of instances switched to waiting lists because of the spike of new users :(

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tallship profile image
Bradley D. Thornton

Wow, I didn't realize that mastodon was the #Fediverse!

Oh, wait! It's not. And it's actually one of the least feature rich platforms in the Fediverse - a Decentralized (DeSoc) social network where all platforms and "instances" as they're referred to, engage and seamlessly communicate with each other.

What are some of these more prominent Fediverse server platforms? Here's a short list and I'll include a list of links as well so you can (compared to all of the available platforms, this really is a short list) browse and peruse at your leisure 🙂

Choosing from the list below, you can join existing instances, self-host your own, and even have a professional #hosting_provider do it for your - just pick a #turnkey provider where in just a couple of clicks your new fully managed Fediverse server will be online in only a minute or two!

There's literally free and privacy respecting Fediverse platforms to replace everything from #Faceplant, #Twatter, #Reddit, #YouTube, #twitch, #InstaSPAM, #Spotify, and so very much more!

JoinTheFedi.com

Soapbox.Pub

Btrf.ly

JoinPeerTube.org

Mitra.Social

Pixelfed.org

Friendi.ca

Quanta.Wiki

FediDB.org/software

WriteFreely.org

funkwhale.audio/en_US/apps/

microblog.pub/

socialhome.network/

owncast.online/

join-lemmy.org/

tallship #FOSS #Soapbox #Rebased #PeerTube #Mitra #Quanta #Pixelfed #Friendica #WriteFreely #Plume #FunkWhale #MicroBlogPub #Socialhome #GotoSocial #Owncast #LoTide #Lemmy #ActivityPub #Privacy #DeSoc #Federating #Decentralize

I hope that helps! Enjoy!

.

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drsensor profile image
૮༼⚆︿⚆༽つ

Anyone know how to reorder the timeline/feeds based on follow list?
For example I have follow list called "Tech News" and I want any post from that follow list in the bottom of my timeline/feeds 🤔

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mathieuhuot profile image
Mathieu Huot