“If I had to bet on the network that will now replace Twitter, it would be Twitter itself,” says César Córcoles, a professor of computer science, multimedia and communication studies at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, who, with EFE, has explored some of the alternatives. and offers tips to consider before entering a social network.
Whether it’s mass layoffs, executive firings, advertiser pullbacks, erratic user verification decisions, or as Musk said, “Remember, Twitter is going to do a lot of stupid things in the coming months. We keep what works and replace what doesn’t,” is part of the Tesla and Space X owner’s chaotic descent.
While there are some similar social media options, “currently none of the alternatives are as simple and easy as Twitter. They all have room for improvement,” says Córcoles, noting that one of the biggest problems is migrating followed accounts to another website, because not everyone who switches to the same social network will do so.
It’s not easy to know if they are currently losing users or using more or less. Twitter used to be a publicly traded company, but “now all the power is really with Elon Musk, so it no longer needs to make that data public,” says Córcoles.
As for alternatives, it’s all about getting used to using them. “Now,” he says, “no one remembers that we were all a little lost in the early days of Twitter.” He also estimates that some users who move to other networks may not leave the first network “because that’s where everyone else is.” is”.
Elon Musk takes control of Twitter and fires its executives
Possible alternatives to Twitter
According to founder Eugen Rochko, Twitter’s most “obvious” alternative is Mastodon, which he says has tripled its user base in recent weeks and has more than a million monthly active users.
Mastodon works similarly to Twitter, you can write, share, reply or “like” posts named “toot”.
However, there is not a single mastodon, but distributed to “instances” or servers. Anyone can decide to set up or rent a server and open a cloud server based on geographic region or specific topic.
The new user has to choose which server to register on and communication can take place between these little mastodons. This decentralization makes it “very powerful, but can be complex for certain people,” much like locating a particular person based on the type of identification used.
Each server has its own usage policies, some “respect privacy very much, but you must be safe”.
Córcoles reminds you that regardless of the chosen social network, the user must first do his homework, review his privacy and usage requirements, and also choose who to follow and who to follow.
Founded in 2007 and a veteran of networking, Tumbrl is “in the middle of a traditional blog with Twitter” and allows you to post photos, videos, music, and follow each other.
Based on decentralized servers called “Split”, Diaspora values privacy, allowing the user to choose the data they want to use for registration and ensuring that they are not used for monetization on the website. Its functionality is very similar to Twitter, including tagging, sharing, mentioning or liking other people’s posts.
Another alternative that Córcoles proposes is to take a new approach to other social networks that many people have, such as Facebook or Instagram, which can now be used to use them like Twitter, because they are different in many ways.
RSS, for its part, is a content syndication or aggregation mechanism that allows users to subscribe to interesting sources such as media or bloggers, he explains. The system warns of what he has written and collects it in a reader.
Whichever option is chosen, Córcoles points out something that is important to him: where does the money come from that is needed to maintain such a service, and that depends, among other things, on the number of users.
If it’s ad-supported, you’ll kind of like it, but you understand the funding model, or if some features can be paid for, like another similar network does, micro.blog might be another option. a foundation behind it. “You should at least ask yourself.”
Source: Ultimahora
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Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
