Roll Up! Take Your First Steps Into... Mastodon!

[AgentPete]

Everyone is talking about Mastodon at the moment – the free and open-source alternative to Twitter.

Although at first glance it looks very similar to Twitter, it works in a very different way. Twitter is a highly-centralized system. Should you dare to tweet anything that offends whoever the boss happens to be - then you may find your presence on his platform is… limited. Or shadow-banned. Or something equally oubliette-ish.

That’s not possible with Mastodon, because it's a network of independently-run servers. There is no Mr. Big: therefore there’s no possibility of being banned from the platform. It’s not corporate-controlled social media – it’s user-controlled.

Mastodon has been around for seven years but has only recently seen a surge in growth and media attention.

Litopia has always been at the forefront of tech innovation (think about all the early podcasts we did) and so yes, we’ve just set up our own Mastodon server, which is now a constituent part of the 5000-strong network of Mastodon servers collectively known as the “fediverse”.

The hard part has already been done, i.e. setting it up.

Now it's over to you to experiment with! Will Mastodon overthrow Twitter - and could it become a valuable new way to discover authors and their works?

Sign up on Litopia's Mastodon server now and kick the tyres a bit!

​

 

[AgentPete]

I’m please to announce that we have two wonderful “Mastodon Moderators”… @Bloo✒️ and @Eva Ulian !

They will help and assist you in your journey.

Only Litopians can join the server at the moment, which means that you may have to wait a few hours until one of the Mastodon Moderators can approve your application.

 

[Pamela Jo]

This is a great idea. Thank you

 

[Bloo]

Okay, Groovy. You're in.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Great idea! I signed up and received the confirmation email--but it went into my spam folder. Not a good sign.

 

[Bloo]

Great idea! I signed up and received the confirmation email--but it went into my spam folder. Not a good sign.

I never got my e-mail. Agent Pete had to manually approve it.

Anyhoo...you're in now. Hope you enjoy

 

[Jonny]

signed up too as am interested to see how it differs from other SM platforms - but so no auto email inbox or spam

 

[Bloo]

signed up too as am interested to see how it differs from other SM platforms - but so no auto email inbox or spam

Same thing happened to me - no e-mail and nothing in spam. Pete had to manually confirm my status. I just did the same for you. It's not intuitive; the "confirm" button is among a bunch of similarly-sized buttons on a screen I had to hunt for.

It feels a bit claustrophobic in there now because it's just Litopians - and only a few of us. Hopefully, we can grow and spread out.

 

[Hannah F]

Question: What's the difference between the display name and the user name?

 

[Bloo]

Question: What's the difference between the display name and the user name?

You can make them different, but don't have to. The display name is more prominent on feeds, but the username is how someone can find you (@so-and-so@litopia.me).

Here's what a post looks like...

 

[Hannah F]

You can make them different, but don't have to. The display name is more prominent on feeds, but the username is how someone can find you (@so-and-so@litopia.me).

Here's what a post looks like...

View attachment 15350

Are we all @litopia.me?

 

[Bloo]

Are we all @litopia.me?

Looks that way. It's the server where the Mastodon Litopia instance resides. It isn't an e-mail address (although it looks like one).

Choose your @username with care, because changing it later on is not at all straightforward.

However, a display name can be easily changed and even reverted (I just tried it).

 

[CarolMS]

Can you add images to your word posts?

 

[Bloo]

Can you add images to your word posts?

Yes you can.

Posts can also be edited. In fact, Eva was able to add a photo to her post after the fact.

 

[CarolMS]

Great! Thanks, Bloo. I'll sign up when I feel I can commit a little time to figuring it all out.

 

[Bloo]

Um, guys...

Please put something relevant in the "Reasons for joining" field so we know your not some rando trying to crash our party. Thanks !

@Hannah F - I had to look up "craic"

@KG Christopher - your screen name is kute

 

[KG Christopher]

Um, guys...

Please put something relevant in the "Reasons for joining" field so we know your not some rando trying to crash our party. Thanks !

@Hannah F - I had to look up "craic"

@KG Christopher - your screen name is kute

craic agus cheol....miggt have spelling wrong...

 

[Bloo]

I just clocked this...

...am interested to see how it differs from other SM platforms...

I'm afraid it's not that sort of platform.

For now

 

[Bloo]

You're in, @KateESal.

Welcome to the place where the wild things are

 

[Pamela Jo]

Once in-is there anything to do first to connect? Do I look Mastodon up on my phone and join there too?

 

[Bloo]

Once in-is there anything to do first to connect? Do I look Mastodon up on my phone and join there too?

You can follow the Litopia link on your computer or mobile browser and log in with your username and password.

Otherwise, you can download the Mastodon app to your mobile device, and go from there. The Husky app also works (I prefer the UI, and the doggie icon is cute).

 

[KateESal]

Okay, I'm in. It's a painless process. Very easy to publish posts and upload photos. Let's see what happens!

 

[Peyton Stafford]

We need a reason to use Mastodon. Otherwise, it's just another juvenile SM (Social Media not Sado-Masochism or Social Medea @Jonny) platform monetizing itself by sucking the one thing out of us we can never get back--our time. If using it will promote Litopia I am in. Otherwise, I am out. I do not need to log into it to get info already on Litopia. Thoughts?

 

[Jonny]

Yeah, I agree Peyton. Only had the briefest of fiddles so far and I'm scratching my head a little to see its relevance in a sea of alternatives. I'm not particularly excited by it if I'm being honest.

I think the recent big buzz about Mastodon was precipitated after a certain new owner bought Twitter and alarm bells began to ring over what changes were to be made.

Back in the day I had a lot of time for Twitter, but these days it seems little better than an open sewer chugging along for many angry shouty people to shout angrily.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Yeah, I agree Peyton. Only had the briefest of fiddles so far and I'm scratching my head a little to see its relevance in a sea of alternatives. I'm not particularly excited by it if I'm being honest.

I think the recent big buzz about Mastodon was precipitated after a certain new owner bought Twitter and alarm bells began to ring over what changes were to be made.

Back in the day I had a lot of time for Twitter, but these days it seems little better than an open sewer chugging along for many angry shouty people to shout angrily.

Sorry but I have to agree about open sewers. Thinking Roman Circus. Pleasing the crowd.

 

[Barbara]

Erm, keeping in mind I was born a LONG time ago, when the year part of my b'date started with a "1" followed by a "9" and disco music was the new thing..... what is Mastodon other than another Twitter style platform which we have to check every day, and what do we need it for?

From the third cave on the left.

 

[AgentPete]

We need a reason to use Mastodon. Otherwise, it's just another juvenile SM (Social Media not Sado-Masochism or Social Medea @Jonny) platform monetizing itself by sucking the one thing out of us we can never get back--our time. If using it will promote Litopia I am in. Otherwise, I am out. I do not need to log into it to get info already on Litopia. Thoughts?

I’m as inexperienced as everyone else re Mastodon.

I like the basic idea because it’s decentralized – i.e. it conforms to the fundamental principles of the internet all those decades ago – and it’s not a billionaire’s plaything.

My feeling at the moment is that the signal-to-noise ratio on Mastodon is much better than on commercial sites such as Twitter, Facebook, TikTok etc etc. Expect more intelligent conversations. However, this also means that you can’t expect one post to suddenly explode and go “viral”. It’s taken seven years for it to grow to where it is today, so it does need some dedication. In particular, you need to actively start following other people on other servers in order to let the Mastodon fediverse know that the Litopia server exists. You ought to slowly see this reflected in your home page posts etc.

Let’s give it a few months. I think we all need to have have some direct experience of Mastodon – it does feel as if we’re reaching a bit of an inflection point in the social media world, and it would be nice to think that something as diversified (and privacy-respecting) as Mastodon could replace some of the nastier aspects of today’s corporate social media.

 

[Bloo]

@Katie-Ellen...

Did you send a request to join the Litopia group a few hours ago? I can't figure out who it is by the e-mail. I tried to send a message through Litopia, but I'm not on your whitelist.

Let me know if that was you so I can let you in

Otherwise, please tell me if you didn't make the request, so the right person can step forward. I don't wanna leave anyone out

@EVERYONE...

A reminder to please include some relevant info in the "Reasons for joining" field (such as a Litopia user name). We can't always figure out who's making the request. Do I have to borrow Emily's wooden spoon

 

[AliG]

Ok applied. As me. Happy to experiment.

 

[Bloo]

Ok applied. As me. Happy to experiment.

Okay, me. You're in

Yet as the resident (blue) alien here, I do most of the experimenting