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Twitter has been a bit of a mess since the billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk He took the lead, halving the company’s workforce, changing the platform’s verification system, competing with users for jokes, and acknowledging that “stupid things” could happen while reshaping one of the world’s most notorious environmental information systems.
On Thursday, amid a mass exodus of senior executives responsible for data privacy, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance, the company’s remaining employees warned that Twitter may not survive if it doesn’t find a way to bring in at least half of its revenue from subscriptions.
While it’s not clear if the drama caused many users to leave — in fact, getting a front row seat chaotic might be fun for some — lesser-known sites Mastodon and even Tumblr are emerging as new (or renewed) alternatives. Here’s a look at some of them.
(Oh, if you’re leaving Twitter and want to keep a history of your tweets, you can download it by going to your profile settings and clicking “Your Account” and then “Download archive of your data.”)
mastodon
Named after an extinct elephant-like mammal, Mastodon has emerged as a pioneer among those curious about life outside of the bluebird. It shares some similarities with Twitter, but there are some big differences – and not only is its version of tweets officially called “toots”.
Mastodon is a decentralized social network. This means that it is not owned by a single company or billionaire. Instead, it consists of a network of servers, each operating independently but able to communicate so that people on different servers can communicate. There are no ads as Mastodon is funded by donations, grants and other means.
Mastodon’s feed is arranged chronologically, unlike Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter, which all use algorithms to get people to spend as much time as possible on a site.
It can be difficult to try to register with Mastodon. Since each server is run separately, you will first need to choose the one you want to join, then go through the steps to create an account and agree with the server rules. There are general factors that depend on interests and location, but in the end it won’t really matter. Once you’re in, the feed reminds us of Twitter. You can type (up to 500 characters), post photos or videos, follow accounts as well as see a public feed.
“We offer a social media vision that cannot be bought and owned by any billionaire, and we strive to create a more flexible global platform without profit incentives,” Mastodon’s website says.
Currently, the site has more than 1 million users, about half of whom signed up after Musk took over Twitter on October 27, according to site founder Eugene Rochko.
Another option, Counter Social, also runs an ad-free and user-funded timeline social platform. To prevent foreign influence operations, Counter Social says it is blocking access to Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria. It prides itself on offering one-click translation into more than 80 languages. It has more than 63 million monthly users, according to its website.
club
Remember the Clubhouse, when we were all under lockdown and couldn’t speak in person? It’s a noisy audio-only app somewhat overshadowed by fake Twitter spaces, which also allows people to talk to each other (think of a conference call, podcast, or “voice chat”) about topics that interest you.
Once you join, Clubhouse lets you start or listen to conversations on a range of topics, from technology to professional sports, parenting, black literature, etc. There are no posts, photos or videos – just people’s profile pictures and their voices. Conversations can be intimate, such as a phone call, or they may involve thousands of people listening to a talk with bold names, such as a conference or a theater interview.
alternative and average
For longer reads, newsletters, and ingesting general information, these sites are perhaps closest to the blogging age of the early 2000s. You can read both without subscribing or paying, but some writers, creators, and podcasts create premium content for paying subscribers.
tumblr
Almost left to die, Tumblr appears to be somewhat enjoying a resurgence. The word/photo/art/video site is known for its loyal fan base and has been the home of angry posts from celebrities like Taylor Swift. It angered many users in 2018 when it banned pornography and “adult content”, which made up a large part of its highly visible and meme-friendly presence online and led to a huge drop in its user base.
Setup is simple, and for those who missed the early years of using social media, there’s definitely an old, laid back feel to the site.
T2 or TBD?
Gabor Cselle, a Google veteran who worked at Twitter from 2014 to 2016, is determined to create a better Twitter. Right now, it’s called T2 and says the web domain name he bought it for – t2.social – costs $7.16. T2, which may or may not be its final name, accepts subscriptions to its queue, but the site is clearly not up and running yet.
“I think Twitter has always had trouble figuring out what to do and how to decide what to do. That was always kind of in the back of my mind,” Cecil told The Associated Press. “On Monday, I decided to just go for it. I haven’t really seen anyone else do that.”
Twitter-style text and TikTok-style videos are one idea. Cselle says for this to work, the text really needs to be “optimized” so that it doesn’t get overwhelmed by the videos.
Cselle added, “I bet it would be easier and more efficient to build a better Twitter or public square now than to fix old issues with Twitter.”
Cselle, of course, isn’t the only one jumping at the opportunity. Project Mushroom, for example, plans a “Safe Place on the Internet – a community-led, open-source home for creators seeking justice on a frenetic planet” and says it has received 25,000 early sign-ups for its yet-to-be-launched platform.
said Jennifer Stromer Galley, a professor at Syracuse University who studies social media.
news sites
One of Twitter’s most valuable features has been the way it allows people to find information within seconds. Was it just an earthquake? Twitter will tell you. Or at least I did.
Although there is no perfect alternative to Twitter, keeping up with local, national and international news is easier than ever. Both Apple and Google offer news services that collect articles from a wide variety of publications (Apple offers a premium subscription service that gives you access to more articles, while Google offers free stories first.) There’s also Flipboard, which works kind of like a personal magazine curated for your interests. .
Of course, subscribing to individual publications (or downloading a free news app like AP News) is also an option.
Yes, you may have to pay for some of them and no, you won’t get a blue check mark with your subscription.
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