shades fills you in

When Elon took over Twitter late last year, NPR said users were ditching Twitter for Mastodon, a text-based social platform

Mastodon is a decentralized software that looks a lot like Twitter. Users join servers (“instances”), each with their own rules. Users communicate across servers -- kind of like email. Watch a TikTok on it here

Mastodon is different from FB or Insta because it’s not owned by one company. Because it’s so different, CNN says that starting out on Mastodon is a bit tricky. But the vibes are good -- it kind feels like a young Twitter!

The Guardian, on the other hand, isn’t so sure about it. It’s a cool concept, but decentralization comes with its own problems. Plus, everyone you want to interact with online is still on Twitter

CNET was rooting for Mastodon, but just didn’t like it: Choosing which server to sign up for was daunting and confusing. It’s also a pain to favorite or follow

Yes, that’s exactly the problem, says WaPo: It’s not user friendly. Tech-savvy users like it, but it’s no Twitter 2.0

A Fortune Op thinks Mastodon’s not replacing Twitter anytime soon: Hate Elon all you want, but Twitter’s still very popular. Mastodon just can’t catch up

Wired adds that Mastodon doesn’t have the infrastructure to support a lot of users on its site. After Elon’s takeover, an influx caused Mastodon servers to overload

More on that from a different Wired article: People are intimidated by the idea of opening their own instance/server because they’d be responsible for the content there. Lawsuit anyone?

By February 2023, Wired said Mastodon’s newfound popularity was short-lived: Many people who jumped from Twitter to Mastodon eventually made their way back to Twitter. Mastodon just isn’t a good replacement!

Vox: They all suck -- Twitter, Mastodon, the whole mess of them! The ideal digital town square just doesn’t exist yet

But Forbes is a defender. Sure, Mastodon isn’t Twitter 2.0, but that’s not the point! It’s not a mainstream site; it doesn’t have to run like one

Yes, Mastodon is a glimpse into what the internet could look like in the future. But there’s still a long way to go before something like Mastodon hits the mainstream -- Vice