Mastodon is interesting but will never really replace Twitter because it's not user friendly enough.
As mentioned, it's a weird amalgamation of Twitter and Discord where it sort of functions like Twitter, but it also functions like Discords with the different servers you join. It's a great concept and decentralized social media is important due to how much of the internet is in the hands of a few billionaires and/or their companies (or incredibly wealthy companies like Adobe or Intel) and I would love to see it catch on...but it is never going to get that big due to how "complicated" it is. Note: it is not actually complicated - at least to most of us here I would think - but your average person isn't going to want to waste the time figuring a thing like that out. Twitter is special in that you can sign up within 60 seconds and be 82 years old and navigate it with ease. There isn't much to figure out. But messing around with servers and stuff? Not for most people.
I think Mastodon will stay primarily relegated to fans of technology/software and the woke eLoN MuSk iS A LiTeRaL NaZi crowd - at least until they realize they're just talking within echo chambers on Mastodon and come crawling back so they can argue online - that thinks they're pissed off he bought it. Yeah the guy is an asshole and a moron and has already made ridiculous choices since taking over, but unless he bankrupts the company (which he actually might really harm it financially haha...sorry the link is German, but should be translatable) but in the end Twitter is always going to be the same place it always has been: a place to shitpost, a place for serious discussions, a place for connecting with friends you know or e-friends on the other side of the world, a place to follow artists/musicians/other creatives and so on. And it's always going to have its shitty side. Twitter was just as bad before Musk took over so I don't know why so many people are acting like it's somehow become worse. In a way, it has become better because of all the jokes people are making about his ownership.
Mastodon is a cool thing and you can for sure find some interesting communities on there, but it's not going to be a Twitter killer. It'll just be TwitterDiscord with some niche servers that people will go to for specific interests whether it's silent Hungarian films, physics, C++, cycling, Waterloo Region, steam tractors or whatever unique thing a group of people want a place to talk about things. But since Discord exists and with some effort, can be made to function less real time, I don't think it'll ever get that big. I had an account years ago on a few servers and going back recently, nothing has changed or grown, so I left again.
As mentioned, it's a weird amalgamation of Twitter and Discord where it sort of functions like Twitter, but it also functions like Discords with the different servers you join. It's a great concept and decentralized social media is important due to how much of the internet is in the hands of a few billionaires and/or their companies (or incredibly wealthy companies like Adobe or Intel) and I would love to see it catch on...but it is never going to get that big due to how "complicated" it is. Note: it is not actually complicated - at least to most of us here I would think - but your average person isn't going to want to waste the time figuring a thing like that out. Twitter is special in that you can sign up within 60 seconds and be 82 years old and navigate it with ease. There isn't much to figure out. But messing around with servers and stuff? Not for most people.
I think Mastodon will stay primarily relegated to fans of technology/software and the woke eLoN MuSk iS A LiTeRaL NaZi crowd - at least until they realize they're just talking within echo chambers on Mastodon and come crawling back so they can argue online - that thinks they're pissed off he bought it. Yeah the guy is an asshole and a moron and has already made ridiculous choices since taking over, but unless he bankrupts the company (which he actually might really harm it financially haha...sorry the link is German, but should be translatable) but in the end Twitter is always going to be the same place it always has been: a place to shitpost, a place for serious discussions, a place for connecting with friends you know or e-friends on the other side of the world, a place to follow artists/musicians/other creatives and so on. And it's always going to have its shitty side. Twitter was just as bad before Musk took over so I don't know why so many people are acting like it's somehow become worse. In a way, it has become better because of all the jokes people are making about his ownership.
Mastodon is a cool thing and you can for sure find some interesting communities on there, but it's not going to be a Twitter killer. It'll just be TwitterDiscord with some niche servers that people will go to for specific interests whether it's silent Hungarian films, physics, C++, cycling, Waterloo Region, steam tractors or whatever unique thing a group of people want a place to talk about things. But since Discord exists and with some effort, can be made to function less real time, I don't think it'll ever get that big. I had an account years ago on a few servers and going back recently, nothing has changed or grown, so I left again.