156 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
156 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
title: Migrating from Twitter to Mastodon
|
||
---
|
||
pub_date: 2022-11-11
|
||
---
|
||
author: Nico Schottelius
|
||
---
|
||
twitter_handle: NicoSchottelius
|
||
---
|
||
_hidden: no
|
||
---
|
||
_discoverable: yes
|
||
---
|
||
abstract:
|
||
How to move from Twitter to Mastodon
|
||
---
|
||
body:
|
||
|
||
## TL;DR
|
||
|
||
If you are in a hurry, here is the minimal amount of information you
|
||
need to move from Twitter to Mastodon:
|
||
|
||
* [Find a server you like](https://ipv6.social)
|
||
* Create an account
|
||
* Follow people you like
|
||
|
||
Ready and go!
|
||
|
||
## The longer story
|
||
|
||
Mastodon is not Twitter and will never be. However both Mastodon and
|
||
Twitter are social media networks. Mastodon however is
|
||
**decentralised**.
|
||
|
||
## Decentralised Social Media
|
||
|
||
What does that mean, decentralised? It means anyone can run a Mastodon
|
||
server and connect to everyone else. This is very much how the
|
||
Internet was designed: a place of many systems that talk to each
|
||
other.
|
||
|
||
Twitter on the other side is a centralised solution. All data and
|
||
communication is hosted by Twitter. If Twitter is going down, everyone
|
||
is affected.
|
||
|
||
Mastodon on the other hand is much more robust. You can and have to
|
||
choose a Mastodon instance that you like.
|
||
|
||
## Which Mastodon instance to use?
|
||
|
||
There are plenty of instances around and you can choose the one you
|
||
trust most or your friends are on. There are various lists of Mastodon
|
||
instances, such as the one at
|
||
[joinmastodon.org](https://joinmastodon.org/servers) or at
|
||
[instances.social](instances.social/list)
|
||
(thanks to
|
||
[@AltoidLover@tech.lgbt](https://tech.lgbt/@AltoidLover/109325600888809019)
|
||
for the pointer).
|
||
|
||
Or, you can even
|
||
[run your own Mastodon
|
||
instance](https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/run-your-own/).
|
||
|
||
## Your own Mastodon instance
|
||
|
||
Why would you want to run your own Mastodon instance in the first
|
||
place? Let's take a few steps back, to understand the fundamental
|
||
difference between Twitter and the Fediverse. The Fedi-what?
|
||
|
||
We so far said Mastodon everywhere, but in reality, Mastodon is just
|
||
one software that allows you to communicate decentralised. In general,
|
||
we refer to the decentralised communication as the "FEDIVERSE". That's
|
||
settled, now let's go back to why anyone would want to run their own
|
||
instance.
|
||
|
||
First of all, running your own mastodon instance allows you to use
|
||
your own, custom domain. So my handle is
|
||
[@nico@ipv6.social](https://ipv6.social/@nico) and it indicates I am
|
||
somewhat interested in #IPv6 related topics, just from the domain of
|
||
the instance I am on.
|
||
|
||
If you already have a domain, many people also choose to use the
|
||
subdomain "social", like social.example.com.
|
||
|
||
There is a second, maybe equally significant point when it comes to
|
||
Mastodon. That is the question of who is going to take care of the
|
||
instance, who is going to update the software and who is actually
|
||
going to pay for running the instance?
|
||
|
||
## In the fediverse, you are not a product
|
||
|
||
Compared to Twitter, where advertisement turns the user into a
|
||
product, in the fediverse you are not a product. That also means that
|
||
the organisation running a Mastodon instance does actually need to pay
|
||
for the service. Whether that is running a VPS, running a Raspberry PI
|
||
or having it hosted by someone else, somebody has to provide the
|
||
resource for it.
|
||
|
||
This is fundamentally different compared to Twitter, but also
|
||
Facebook, where you are basically also just a product.
|
||
|
||
The big advantage of this is that there is no advertisement, no
|
||
central user analytics, but much more freedom. Like we say in
|
||
Switzerland, you [Khasch nit z'Füferli und z Weggli
|
||
ha](https://dict.leo.org/forum/viewGeneraldiscussion.php?idForum=4&idThread=1051992&lp=ende&lang=en)
|
||
or in proper English: you cannot have everything. And that's a good
|
||
thing.
|
||
|
||
## Importing Twitter Followers into the Fediverse
|
||
|
||
You might have noticed that more and more Twitter accounts add their
|
||
fediverse handle like
|
||
[@ungleich@ipv6.social](https://ipv6.social/@ungleich)
|
||
to their Twitter
|
||
handle. There is a nifty tool available that scans your account for
|
||
the handles and imports them on the fediverse site for you. It is
|
||
called [Debirdify](https://pruvisto.org/debirdify/) and it's a good
|
||
start to get a list of people to follow. Debirdify can actually scan
|
||
your followers and the ones you follow, too.
|
||
|
||
## More guides
|
||
|
||
If you interested in reading Is there more
|
||
about moving from Twitter to Mastodon, there are other articles you
|
||
might be interested in, like:
|
||
|
||
* [A beginner’s guide to Mastodon, the open source Twitter alternative
|
||
(techcrunch)](https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/08/what-is-mastodon/
|
||
|
||
## Mastodon Hosting by ungleich
|
||
|
||
Shameless plug at the end - we have just
|
||
launched [Mastodon hosting by ungleich](/u/products/mastodon-hosting/)
|
||
to provide you an easy way to start in the fediverse. Remember, you
|
||
don't have to go with us, but the beauty of the fediverse is you can
|
||
host your own, use somebody else's server or use a hosted Mastodon
|
||
instance.
|
||
|
||
## P.S.: A Post Twitter World
|
||
|
||
Twitter might not yet be done and even at ungleich we have a lot of
|
||
references to our Twitter account. We don't know whether everyone will
|
||
move to the fediverse, but we very much welcome a push towards
|
||
decentralisation of the Internet.
|
||
|
||
For many years, probably about a decade or two, we have become more
|
||
and more reliant on centralised services. These services might have
|
||
made our lives easier, but also much more dependent on a few
|
||
organisations.
|
||
|
||
It is a good thing to review what we are using from time to time and
|
||
today we are looking stronger at Twitter - tomorrow we might consider
|
||
a different search engine - who knows?
|
||
|
||
I am looking forward to hearing you in the fediverse and if you have any
|
||
comment, do not hesitate to reach out to [@nico@ipv6.social](https://ipv6.social/@nico).
|