{"id":68537,"date":"2022-11-11T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=68537"},"modified":"2022-11-11T09:00:48","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T09:00:48","slug":"how-to-switch-from-twitter-to-mastodon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=68537","title":{"rendered":"How to switch from Twitter to Mastodon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">How to switch from Twitter to Mastodon<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/users\/cherrybomb\" class=\"username\">Jessica Cherry<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Fri, 11\/11\/2022 &#8211; 03:00<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>Like many people, I find social media somewhat exciting and also&#8230;a bit much. Sometimes you get deep-fried in algorithms, tracking data, and ads catered especially for you. You lack administrative control over what you want to see, especially on the old platforms many of us are used to. As usual, you must look to open source to fix the problem. And that&#8217;s exactly what <a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/article\/22\/11\/twitter-vs-mastodon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mastodon<\/a>, an open source microblogging community, does.<\/p>\n<p>With Mastodon social, not only are you working with open source software, but everything is decentralized, which means you can pick what you want to see partly based on the instance you want to occupy. Mastodon uses separate instances, each with its own code of conduct, privacy options, and moderation policies. That means that when you join an instance, you&#8217;re less likely to see the stuff you&#8217;re not interested in and more likely to see messages from people who share your interests.<\/p>\n<p>However, you can also interact with other instances. All Mastodon installs have the potential to be &#8220;federated&#8221; in what its users call the &#8220;fediverse.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"embedded-resource-list callout-float-right\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item\">More open source alternatives<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-links field--type-link field--label-hidden field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/business\/16\/3\/top-project-management-tools-2016?intcmp=7013a000002D4iFAAS\">Open source project management tools<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/alternatives\/trello?intcmp=7013a000002D4iFAAS\">Trello alternatives<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/article\/18\/4\/new-state-video-editing-linux?intcmp=7013a000002D4iFAAS\">Linux video editors<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/life\/12\/6\/design-without-debt-five-tools-for-designers?intcmp=7013a000002D4iFAAS\">Open source alternatives to Photoshop<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/alternatives?intcmp=7013a000002D4iFAAS\">List of open source alternatives<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/tags\/alternatives?intcmp=7013a000002D4iFAAS\">Latest articles about open source alternatives<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>What is the fediverse?<\/h2>\n<p>The fediverse is an ensemble of federated (or interconnected) servers. The word comes from the mix of &#8220;federated&#8221; and &#8220;universe.&#8221; You can use this for all sorts of web publishing, from social networking to websites to file hosting. While each instance is hosted independently, they can talk to each other.<\/p>\n<h2>So how can I sign up for Mastodon?<\/h2>\n<p>First, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mastodon.social<\/a> to sign up.<\/p>\n<p>On the right-hand side of the screen, there are <strong>Sign in<\/strong> and <strong>Create account<\/strong> buttons.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/1signin-createaccount.png\" width=\"346\" height=\"434\" alt=\"Sign-in or Create Account interface\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>However, because anyone can run a Mastodon server, there are many instances, and some servers are already home to a community with interests that may align with your own. As I&#8217;ve said, you&#8217;ll have access to the whole fediverse no matter what, but it can be nice to start on a server where people already &#8220;speak your language&#8221; (that can be literal, too, because you can add a filter to find a server in your native language).<\/p>\n<p>To find a server, click the <strong>Find another server<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2signingup.png\" width=\"572\" height=\"364\" alt=\"Signing up interface\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>When you click that button, you&#8217;re brought to the <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\/servers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Join Mastodon page<\/a>, with a button to list available servers.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/3gettingstarted.png\" width=\"618\" height=\"332\" alt=\"Getting started interface\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>As you scroll down, you can pick a topic on the left to help you find where you would like to be hosted.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/4topics.png\" width=\"366\" height=\"638\" alt=\"Topic list\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>I&#8217;m all about open source, so let&#8217;s see what we have in the technology topic.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/5techtopic.png\" width=\"936\" height=\"466\" alt=\"Technology topics\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>As you can see, there&#8217;s a large index with many waiting lists. In this case, it looks like Don Watkins, a fellow Opensource.com author, has chosen an instance that works for himself and our talented group. So I&#8217;ll skip ahead and tell you where I&#8217;m going: There&#8217;s a free open source software server known as <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fosstodon<\/a>, and I&#8217;ve chosen to sign up there so I can share my articles freely.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the sign-in steps.<\/p>\n<p>First, enter your information:<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/6signin.jpg\" width=\"654\" height=\"446\" alt=\"Steps for signing in\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>Next, you get a message about a confirmation email:<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/7confirmation.png\" width=\"1958\" height=\"1370\" alt=\"Confirmation message\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>When you get to your email, click the <strong>Verify<\/strong> button, and the system prompts you to confirm your login information.<\/p>\n<p>This server does have an application process to join. This process isn&#8217;t just for safety reasons but also for privacy. Once approved, you get this amazing email!<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/8welcome.png\" width=\"936\" height=\"658\" alt=\"Welcome message\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>I kept my handle from other social media venues, so it&#8217;s easy to move back and forth from one place to another and cross-post with replication and API calls.<\/p>\n<h2>Complete control<\/h2>\n<p>Now that I have a new profile, I can change preferences on what emails I receive, allowing for more control over what I see. This is a good way to give me more power over my media intake, and it&#8217;s greatly appreciated. Once I click <strong>Preferences<\/strong>, Mastodon offers me cool appearance, language information, and many other options.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/9appearance.png\" width=\"936\" height=\"604\" alt=\"Appearance settings\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>Next, I can click notifications and limit what I see and what I get notified for, so I can opt for less noise.<\/p>\n<article class=\"align-center media media--type-image media--view-mode-default\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/10notifications.png\" width=\"936\" height=\"558\" alt=\"Notifications settings\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>(Jess Cherry, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>This complete control of my media without algorithmic intervention is great. You can also set up featured hashtags for what you want on your profile to follow long-term projects or allow people to find you by following those hashtags. You also have the options for filters, followers, and so much more.<\/p>\n<h2>Final notes<\/h2>\n<p>This open source social media is a great way to find your group of people and broadly interact with those in a broad universe of interests. Controlling media intake is great for some balance in your life, and you can opt-in to contributing by checking the <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mastodon\/mastodon\/blob\/main\/CONTRIBUTING.md\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contributor rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the control over your own social media experience, you also gain phone apps that work on all devices, including Toot for iPhone and Tusky for Android.<\/p>\n<p>Long story short: I think we should all get ready for a new open source world of social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-article-subhead field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>Mastodon is an open source microblogging community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-lead-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<article class=\"media media--type-image media--view-mode-caption\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/birds_wire.png\" width=\"520\" height=\"292\" alt=\"Enter our Twitter contest, win open leadership books\" title=\"Enter our Twitter contest, win open leadership books\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden caption field__item\"><span class=\"caption__byline\">Image by: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Opensource.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/tags\/alternatives\" hreflang=\"en\">Alternatives<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden field field--name-field-listicle-title field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item\">What to read next<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-default-license field--type-list-string field--label-hidden field__item\"><a rel=\"license\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/cc-by-sa--15.png\" title=\"This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.\"><\/a>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.<\/div>\n<section class=\"field field--name-field-comments field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"comments__count\">\n<div class=\"login\"><a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/user\/register?absolute=1\">Register<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.com\/user\/login?destination=\/feed&amp;absolute=1\">Login<\/a> to post a comment.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to switch from Twitter to Mastodon Jessica Cherry Fri, 11\/11\/2022 &#8211; 03:00 Like many people, I find social media somewhat exciting and also&#8230;a bit much. Sometimes you get deep-fried in algorithms, tracking data, and ads catered especially for you. You lack administrative control over what you want to see, especially on the old platforms [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-source"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}