With Elon Musk now at the helm of Twitter, the threatened exodus from his social-media platform is nigh. The billionaire Tesla founder kicked things off with a bang – well, with a sink, to be precise, and a tweet, “Let that sink in” – and has made it clear he wants to make his mark. But amid the talk of free speech, $8 Twitter Blue subscriptions and mass lay-offs, it’s not yet clear how that will affect the average Twitter user. Plenty of people already looking for alternatives, though. If your time on Twitter is up, where can you go?
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Mastodon
No, not the metal band; the European-founded social network. In the days after Musk completed his Twitter takeover, the open-source social network Mastodon had an influx of users. According to a post on the site by chief executive and founder Eugen Rochko, close to 200,000 new users have signed up since October 27th, with 437 new servers created.
Mastodon isn’t quite the same as Twitter. Users sign up to a specific server operated by an independent organisation or individual, each with its own moderation policies. However, you can interact with other Mastodon users regardless of where their account is hosted. For example, you can sign up to the Ireland server but follow people with accounts on a server for San Francisco.
There is a bit of a learning curve. You don’t tweet, you toot. And the distributed nature of the servers mean Mastodon doesn’t control what goes on there, but the company has a say in the type of content it promotes – in other words, servers committed to moderation against racism, sexism and transphobia.
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CounterSocial
Created in 2017, CounterSocial promises a lot: no trolls, no fake news, no abuse, no ads, no foreign influence operations. It was founded by an anonymous hacker known as the Jester, setting itself up as the antithesis to the current crop of social-media companies.
For example, it uses AI to analyse uploaded content to determine deepfake probability. It also offers “exploding” posts that are destroyed after a certain length of time, and an enhanced privacy mode if you want to follow an external link off the site. It even has its own virtual reality option, called CounterRealms.
CounterSocial isn’t widely available, though; the network is closed to certain countries that are considered major sources of bot traffic or disinformation. Currently that list includes Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria.
If you are using Twitter for professional purposes, LinkedIn might be a better fit. The Microsoft-owned social network is designed for professional networking, giving you access to a wide range of experts and potential contacts for the future.
It has a different tone from Twitter’s, mind you, and has spawned its own parody accounts lampooning some of the worst elements of self-promotion and self-praise. But LinkedIn also has its own job section, so between all the earnest and professional posts you might find a new role.
Discord
If you want to create your own community, Discord is a place you can do that. When you sign up for an account you are invited to set up your own server dedicated to your topic of choice. Or, if that’s a little too much, you can join established communities that serve your interests. They can be anything from virtual reality to music to communities dedicated to Ireland.
Established in 2015, Discord was originally intended for gamers. In fact, that was part of its motto: chat for gamers. It made its name through its relationships with gamers and, later, in esports and LAN tournaments. But two years ago, the service changed its motto to emphasise communities and friends, signalling a new approach. Now Discord is a mix of public servers on general topics, such as Minecraft, and private, invitation-only spaces for closed communities to keep in touch through chat, video and voice calls.
It hasn’t always been positive, though. Discord has had its issues; accusations of cyberbullying and the distribution of intimate images without consent are among the controversies.
Reddit has been around since 2005 – a long time by today’s standards, and for good reason. It keeps things simple. Posters are rewarded by upvotes and downvotes in the community, affecting the visibility of their contributions. They can also earn “karma”, which reflects the user’s standing. More of a message board than a social network, Reddit is home to diverse communities covering more topics of interest than you ever realised existed, and one or two that you wished didn’t.
Still, if you are looking for a like-minded community, you are bound to find it here.
