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What the Tech? Alternatives to Twitter | What The Tech?

Twitter calls itself a micro-blogging social media platform and there are others, including a couple getting a lot of new users.

The Mastodon platform has benefited most from the Twitter drama. More than a million people have created Mastodon accounts. People “toot” posts rather than “tweet and “re-tweets” are called “boosts.”

New users complain it’s hard to understand how it works. You’re required to choose a server where your account is hosted. Each one has its own terms, privacy options and content policies.

Since you’re starting from scratch finding people to follow will take some time. Tooting isn’t difficult though, and there’s a 500-character limit.

Tumblr is still very much active with over 500 million blogs on its site. It looks more like a blog than Twitter with long-form posts and videos. Very cool looking. You may already have a Tumblr account you stopped using. I was a little surprised mine is still there. My last post was in 2013.

There’s Parler which drew a lot of new users when former President Trump was banned from Twitter. It has mostly right-wing political posts right now. That could change if others start hanging out there.

If you do plan to leave the Twittersphere, be aware if you de-activate your account, you’ll have thirty days to change your mind or reactivate it. If you don’t reactivate in that time, your username will become available to anyone who wants to use it.

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