Mastodon: The Platform Taking Twitter's Worn and Weary

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4.6 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the wake of the five alarm fire at Twitter, a small, quiet social media alternative has been quietly attracting the tweeting weary. Mastodon, named for the prehistoric elephant relatives, was originally created by a German programmer named Eugen Rochko in 2016. And even though it shares similarities to its blue bird peer, the two platforms possess many differences. For one, Mastodon is organized by groups called "servers" or "instances," there's no universal experience like on Twitter. It's also completely decentralized — each server is run by individuals or small groups — with no overseeing company. But is it here to stay? This week, Brooke sits down with Clive Thompson, a tech journalist and author of the book Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World, to talk about why people like Mastodon, who it's for, and why we should watch its latest evolution.

You can find Clive Thompson on Mastodon at @[email protected] and OTM by searching @[email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Brooke, welcome to the Midweek podcast.
0:03.3	What follows is a longer conversation with Clive Thompson about mastodon.
0:08.7	The more edited version will be on the show that posts on Friday.
0:15.3	At the base of the Statue of Liberty there's a poem that bears some famous lines.
0:20.6	Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
0:26.0	The wretched refuse of your teaming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me.
0:35.9	Worthy words for a new start, but in 2022 they could easily address a distinctly different
0:42.8	huddled mass in search of a more specialized refuge.
0:46.7	Well turn out of the turmoil at Twitter, the social media giant appearing to be in disarray
0:51.8	after as many as half of its employees were laid off under new owner Elon Musk.
0:57.1	How's this for your first message from your new boss?
1:00.2	A staff white email that was sent in the middle of the night, Elon Musk suggested the
1:03.8	company could go into bankruptcy as executives are resigning, advertisers are fleeing and
1:08.9	trolls are running rampant.
1:10.4	The latest turmoil at Twitter this morning with a 4,000 contract workers were terminated
1:15.2	over the weekend.
1:16.2	As a result, millions of Twitter users are exploring another little-known platform called
1:22.0	Mastodon.
1:23.4	Mastodon, originally created by a German programmer named Eugen Rochko in 2016.
1:30.6	While the two platforms share a general resemblance, the similarity is merely skin deep.
1:36.5	For example, what we think of as a tweet button on Mastodon is called a tut.
1:41.3	Although as of this week, tut has been retired being too easily employed in double-entonderes,
	...

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