Category: Social Media

Twitter has been one of the most popular social media sites for years, but after the company switched hands, many began looking for alternatives. Mastodon seems to be the go-to choice, as it has doubled its user base in just a few months. Those looking for a Twitter alternative should consider hopping on the Mastodon bandwagon. Still, before you do, it’s worth gaining a better understanding of what sets it apart from other social media sites.

What is Mastodon?

Mastodon is a decentralized social media site based in Germany. In many ways, it’s similar to Twitter, but several things make it unique. The site lets you follow users and like and share posts, similar to any other social media site. However, Mastodon is broken up into various servers, operated by different organizations and individuals, each with its own themes and rules. 

This site is one of the few social media options that is both free to use and ad-free. It’s operated by a non-profit organization and markets itself as “social networking that’s not for sale.”

Does it matter which Mastodon server you use?

When choosing a Mastodon server, you’re choosing which node will host and moderate your account. Users from various servers can interact with each other, so you aren’t limited to those on the same node as you. There are thousands of independent servers, known as the “Fediverse.”

For many, the main consideration is how the server is moderated. Luckily, you can switch servers anytime, meaning you can leave the node you initially chose if you disagree with their decisions.

According to fedi.tips, anyone can run their own server for around $8 a month. Generally speaking, joining someone else’s server is easier, and there isn’t really a financial incentive to create your own. Still, creating and joining your own server is an option if you’re up for the challenge.

Is Mastodon associated with the blockchain?

Blockchain and Web3 technologies generally market themselves as “decentralized,” so it’s natural to wonder whether Mastodon is a blockchain-based social media site. As it stands, Mastodon isn’t associated with any type of blockchain technology or cryptocurrencies.

The main reason Mastodon utilizes a decentralized approach is to give users the power to support the servers they like most. Because it’s decentralized, you’ll never have to worry about it getting bought by corporate entities. Additionally, since the site is spread among various servers, a technical issue is unlikely to prevent it from working. If something were to happen to one server, it wouldn’t impact the other servers in the network.

How to sign up for Mastodon

First, you’ll need to choose which server you’d like to join on Mastodon’s server directory. Most are open for anyone to join, but some require an application process. Regardless of your choice, you’ll need to read their rules to ensure it’s right for you. 

Next, input your preferred display name, username, email address, and password. Finally, you can confirm your email address and begin using the site. Like Twitter, you can start by adding a profile picture, following a few accounts, and making your first post.

Political polarization divides people into two groups with completely opposing views. Examples are pro-life vs. pro-choice, liberal vs. conservative, and Democrats vs. Republicans.

2014 Pew Research pointed out many years ago that studies showed a strong move away from the center by both American political parties. This shift caused the center position to decrease to 39% in 2014, down from 49% in 1994.

In 2021 Pew Research, the center shrunk to 37%. Those in the contemporary center have little to no interest in politics. The center’s disappearance from the political conversation reinforces the feeling that political polarization is growing.

Republicans and Democrats agree on very little, except they share the belief of having almost nothing in common with the other party. Four out of five people from both parties say they fundamentally disagree with the other side about core American values. Political polarization creates affiliations of being either Red or Blue but nothing in-between.

Social Media Increases Political Polarization

Social media substantially increases the intensity of political polarization. The Brookings Institution research found that a relationship exists between social media platforms and extreme polarization that may erode democratic values and increase partisan violence. 

Engagement

The goal of social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tik Tok and others, is to keep people using their systems as much as possible. This use allows them to monetize their users’ attention and track information to sell to advertisers. This process is engagement.

Engagement is the interaction and activity with social media content. Creating a powerful reaction in a viewer by sensationalizing political issues (including spreading misinformation) is far more engaging than a boring presentation of facts.

Addiction to the Release of Dopamine

People are obsessed with social media because of its constantly changing 24/7 modality, unpredictability, the tiny pieces of information (or misinformation) it offers, and the reward cues such as likes, shares, followers, etc. Those characteristics stimulate the release of a neurotransmitter (brain chemical) called dopamine, which is pleasurable.

Research into addictive behaviors suggests that dopamine triggered by social media use is so powerful it is harder to resist than the addiction to alcohol or cigarettes.

Social Media Algorithms, Media Bubbles, Echo Chambers, and Confirmation Bias

The goal of any social media system is to attract new users and keep existing users engaged with the system. A social media algorithm is an AI-driven computer program that selects content choices based on user profiles to keep users coming back for more.

The system tracks what you do and how you engage with content and then presents similar content or its best guess of what content you might like to keep you as engaged as possible.

When you engage with certain content, like watching a specific news piece, you will see that type of content presented to you on your next use of the system. This phenomenon is a “media bubble.”

 An “echo chamber” effect happens when you get more content that matches previous content. Confirmation bias occurs when a user looks for content that reinforces a previously-held opinion. All of this leads to increased political polarization shaped by social media use.

Facebook denies doing this and says mainstream media and cable news spreads more disinformation than social media.

Conclusion

Overwhelming research shows that social media increases political polarization.  Social media use allows the easy spread of misinformation and makes it difficult to tell what is legitimate. Social media use makes political polarization more intense.

There are all types of social media platforms these days, but there’s one in particular that people turn to the most for breaking news since it’s so easy to find things out before anybody else, and that’s Twitter. On the other hand, Twitter has gotten a bad rap over the years because it’s not just for breaking news, as people post whatever they feel and it seems that the rules of Twitter are changing on a daily basis.

After all, multiple surveys and studies have shown Twitter to be the “most toxic” social media platform, even ahead of the likes of Facebook. If you’re on Twitter and want to get the best of what it has to offer without getting much of the worst, there are some alternatives to try out. Here are the five best Twitter alternatives out there right now, some of which you may not have heard of yet.

Reddit

Through the 17 years since Reddit was founded by previous college roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, along with friend Aaron Swartz, it has become one of the most visited and used social sites in the world. 

The site, available via an app on iPhone and Android devices, primarily consists of user-based content. Redditors can post content in separate subreddits, with subjects ranging from news, cooking, relationship advice, gaming, and so much more. Users can upvote, downvote, comment, share posts, and do whatever they choose on the platform, within the limits of each subreddit’s rules. Each subreddit has its chosen users acting as moderators to keep the peace and enforce rules, something Twitter doesn’t offer. 

Discord

Discord was founded in 2015 and was initially used as a way for gamers and their friends to communicate more easily during gameplay. Discord now allows users to interact with communities run by users as well as acting as an instant messaging, video calling, file sharing, and audio calling platform. 

Unlike some social media outlets, Discord doesn’t prompt users to reveal too much personal information with profile pages for others to view. Allowing for anonymity and simplicity. Users can create communities, called servers, for whatever purpose they desire. A majority of the user-created servers are made up of twitch streamers who want to give their followers a place to come together as a community and share news about their content. 

Tumblr

Founded in 2007 by David Karp, Tumblr is surprisingly still around, after overcoming the rumors and controversy that made many think the site was obsolete. Widely popular in the 2010s, Tumblr was, and still may be, the place for displaying all of your thoughts, poetry, and artwork, along with reblogging all of the quirky, aesthetic, and often NSFW content you came across. 

Tumblr cloaks users in anonymity and even allows nudity once again after it was previously banned throughout the site in 2018, making it a pretty neat place if you’re into that. It’s likely the closest Twitter alternative you’ll find with the freedom you’re allowed on the site. 

Clubhouse 

Clubhouse was founded recently, in March of 2020, a time when the majority of society was most likely aching for a social outlet to escape the monotony of staying inside at the very beginning of the pandemic. 

Clubhouse allows users to socialize using audio chat rooms, ranging in privacy and accessibility. Moderators of private rooms can pick and choose who they want to join and when they’re able to participate in audio conversations. Though open rooms are available to all and can get pretty interesting. 

Hive Social

Hive Social was founded just three years ago in 2019 by the Brazilian company Hive. It’s sort of a mix of all the popular social media apps of the past and present. 

The site gives users more freedom and allows nudity, urging users to be 17+ to join. Users can share files, pictures, and text posts, and even have their own profile that plays their favorite song when viewed. 

The music industry has changed a lot over the years, and it’s not enough to simply release a song and hope that it gets popular. Marketing a song has also changed, and now executives are making sure songs are gaining traction on the social media app TikTok so that it can boost exposure. With that, there have been several songs that have climbed the charts thanks to going viral on TikTok, with these five, in particular, receiving the biggest boost.

“Say So” by Doja Cat

A lot of people think that Doja Cat was brand new to the scene when her song “Say So” was released from her album “Hot Pink”, but she had actually been on the scene since 2014. Doja Cat had released several singles and an album up to that point, with none of her songs making the top 40 and her debut album “Amala” not cracking the top 100 of the Billboard charts.

“Say So” came out of left field as it didn’t become a main release until it gained traction on TikTok with content creator Haley Sharpe offering up a dance challenge with “Say So” playing. The trend would end up becoming viral, and the track that was an afterthought for Doja Cat ended up being her biggest hit. The song eventually reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to TikTok.

“Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion

Releasing her first singles in 2017, Megan Thee Stallion got off to a solid start in her career, with modest successes in the form of “Big Ole Freak” and “Cash S***”. Megan had her first hit with “Hot Girl Summer” featuring Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign in 2019, but it wasn’t until the release of “Savage” that she scored her first top 10 and number one song.

“Savage” got a viral dance challenge of its own thanks to Keara Wilson, with her original video getting well over 15 million views. The song was the most played on TikTok, and it took off right as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking full effect, with more people glued to their smartphones in their houses doing viral dance challenges.

“Remember (Walking in the Sand) by the Shangri-Las

Though most people find the remixed version to be incredibly grating on the ears, the original version of “Oh No” by Capone is the 1964 hit song “Remember” by the Shangri-Las. The song, which typically accompanies someone or something experiencing immediate regret, was remixed and repitched to fit the TikTok motif.

The song went viral due to its use in seemingly every video, and it drummed up interest in the original version. Google searches for “the Oh No song” spiked in November of 2020, leading to a huge surge in the original’s popularity. As for the Shangri-Las, they had other hits including “Leader of the Pack” and “Give Him a Great Big Kiss”.

“Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga

First written in 2007, “Paparazzi” was a solid hit by Lady Gaga upon its initial release back in 2009 from “The Fame” album. The song peaked at number six in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 and saw a resurgence in 2021 thanks to its use on TikTok. Many of the videos associated with the song were satirically obsessed over a person.

The version of the song that was used came from Lady Gaga’s live performance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. For those that haven’t seen the video, her voice sounds almost nothing like the album since she’s showing a lot of emotion as she’s playing someone that’s been mortally wounded and showing a ton of distress.

“Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo

In 2021, actress Olivia Rodrigo had a massive breakout in the music scene thanks to her debut album “Sour”. The lead single from the album was “Drivers License”, which helped get a massive boost in popularity thanks to TikTok. The song has a strong emotional message and was used for more somber TikToks and also plenty of satirical comedy.

The success on TikTok helped get “Drivers License” to the number one spot of every major music chart in the world and propelled “Sour” to the number one album. Rodrigo would end up winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Drivers License”.

Social media is something that has become so ingrained in the lives of people all around the world that we tend to open our social apps without even thinking twice about it. We feel the need to keep up on the latest posts from our friends and find breaking news before the mainstream media can even type up a report on it.

As a result, there are over 4.7 billion active social media users around the world, or in other words, around two-thirds of the entire global population. Social media apps are competing with each other for one thing, and it’s not money, it’s your attention. To do this, apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more come up with ways to have you open the app time and time again. Social media apps use these five strategies to keep you coming back for more every day to the point where the average internet user is on social media for 2.5 hours per day.

Autoplay Videos

The Auto Play feature now available across many apps is a relatively recent way social media is further designed to keep you hooked. It can be hard to put your phone down once you get sucked into the seemingly endless amount of videos at your disposal on apps like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. They’re designed to gain, and more importantly, keep your attention on the content provided by the app. The longer you’re hooked, the more the app benefits.

Endless Content Scrolling

Like the Auto Play videos on many apps, there’s also a load of other, seemingly endless, content. From pictures, advertisements, games, events, news articles, celebrity gossip, and offers for deals on purchases. There’s a multitude of ways social media is designed to hone in on your interests and capture your attention. 

Social media offers so many different features, ways to share content, and ways to absorb content to keep the user from getting bored of the app. This pretty much causes most users generally looking to hop on social media as a distraction from their boredom. 

Notifications

Notifications are social media’s way of pulling you back in for more. Once you’re on your device and checking notifications, it’s not hard to stick around and take a look, ultimately spending more time on social media apps. Whether it’s a message notification, a notification a friend is posting, a tempting offer, or the sought-after “like” on a post/picture you posted, social media leaves us wanting the excitement of those notifications more and more. 

It can become a distraction during work, driving, or enjoying time with loved ones. Of course, there are settings you can change on your devices so you don’t receive notifications at all, or receive silent ones if you prefer to keep up to date without as much of a distraction. Though, social media tends to bug you relentlessly about turning on notifications after you turn them off. 

Algorithm

The algorithm on any social media or entertainment app is designed to keep you satisfied by providing suggestions for content from users and channels you seem to pay more attention to, or suggestions for content similar to what you enjoy. It’s a sneaky way to pique your interest, making it harder to put your phone down after you find yourself going down the rabbit hole of new content. 

Yearning for Others’ Approval 

Social media is a great way to connect with others and put yourself out there. With the growing number of social media “influencers” out there, social media has turned into a sort of toxic environment where likes and popularity are all that matters. 

The immense pressure from others to look flawless at an unattainable level, or to seem adventurous and fun, is unhealthy. A lot of people end up faking it to gain popularity and likes. What you see on social media is typically very different than real life, so take everything with a grain of salt and don’t try to reach standards so far overshot. 

It may have happened to you when browsing the internet. You see a link to a video on a website like Reddit or Twitter and it leads you to watching a video about extreme ideals from one end of the spectrum or the other. At first, you might watch this extremist video out of spite or morbid curiosity, but before you know it, you’re being suggested very similar videos to the point where you may become indoctrinated into a way of thinking. This is because YouTube’s algorithm is built in a way where if you watch just one video on a particular subject, you’re bombarded with many on the same topic.

You tend to fall into what’s known as a channel cluster thanks to the YouTube algorithm, which funnels your suggestions into more specific topics. If you watched one video that criticized “SJWs” (social justice warriors), that leads to topics that start swaying to the right of the aisle. Suggested videos become more far right until you’re getting some very scary topics that are extremely racist and sexist. The same can be said for anti-capitalism videos and how it can lead to far left ideals such as forcefully tearing down the government. These rabbit holes were once reserved on YouTube for one cat video leading to an hour-long compilation playlist, but it has become very extreme politically in recent years.

This seems to be especially true when it comes to the far right of politics. Consumption of far right and ‘anti-woke’ content on YouTube – while small relative to politically moderate and nonpolitical content – is stickier and more engaging than other content categories,” says one study conducted by Stanford University, adding that “The growing engagement with radical content on YouTube may simply reflect a more general trend.”

With that said, the far right extremist content tends to generate more of a response, and thus, is more ingrained into the algorithm. If you see a video speaking about politics and there’s no bias in one direction, you’re likely to just say “meh” and move on to the next video. When you vehemently oppose something, you watch the entire video out of seething curiosity and react with dislikes, getting in comment wars, etc.

There’s a current hypothesis called algorithmic radicalization that has been studying this very phenomenon. Research began in 2021 with several major studies, and results are still being worked on to this day. One study has already noted that YouTube’s “Changes appear to have affected the propagation of some of the worst content on the platform, reducing both recommendations to conspiratorial content on the platform and sharing YouTube conspiracy videos on Twitter and Reddit.”

With this hypothesis, YouTube acts as the starting point for extremism where it hosts content and the algorithm catches people who have fallen down this “rabbit hole.” From there, the content starts to spread like wildfire across social media platforms, and for some people, it converts them into having these extremist views. Interestingly enough, though, the algorithm tends to capitalize on how people already felt or what their interests were. With that said, perhaps it’s not a YouTube problem to begin with, but rather people already having those types of seeds planted and YouTube is the symptom.