Popular Twitter alternative Mastodon now has an official Android app, but don’t ignore excellent 3rd party alternatives

Mastodon has been one of the best alternatives to corporate social networks over the past few years, with its decentralised design and open protocols. The platform released its own app for iOS last year, and now there’s an Android app available on the Google Play Store.

Mastodon is a social network with an estimated user base of 4.4 million people and a similar design as Twitter. The back end works a bit like email: anyone who signs up on one community (server) can follow and talk to anyone on any other community, just like someone with a Gmail account can send messages to a Yahoo email, and vice-versa. There’s no centralised database or platform collecting data, and no algorithmic timelines. The protocol powering everything, ActivityPub, is open-source and has been implemented by other social networks. For example, Mastodon users can follow people on PixelFed, an Instagram alternative that supports ActivityPub.

Because Mastodon is decentralised, rules can differ between instances, you should take the time to choose one that fits closest with your own values. I post identical content to both Twitter (831 followers) and Mastodon (718 followers), and certainly the engagement I get on Mastodon is way higher than on Twitter. It seems that Twitter has such a fire-hose of adverts, promoted tweets, etc that it buries posts from those who you really choose to follow.

It is also worth exploring some of the 3rd party Mastodon apps (both Android and iOS), as they often contain some extra features you may find appealing.

See https://www.xda-developers.com/mastodon-official-android-app/

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