16 months on Mastodon and almost 4 on Threads

 It's been about 16 months since I switched Twitter (it was still named Twitter back then) for Mastodon. I found in Mastodon some social media on a much slower pace due to the lack of algorithms and a much friendlier atmosphere.

Intially the growth of new users was big and each time Elon did something stupid, there was a big influx of new users. But somehow most users don't stick around long or are not very active. The effect of different servers seems to put off people but also the people that are in need of the rush of Twitter cannot be satisfied by Mastodon. 

I also still miss the use of Twitter as a news source. It was excellent to find breaking news, than track each update in a sort of adrenaline rush.  In the meantime it improved since a lot of bots copy posts from twitter and also some news agencies are now on Mastodon, so I can select a group of journalists or news sources to see their updates.  But I still miss out on the continuous updates of users during a news event. Oh well, maybe for the better. 


Recently Threads.net got released for Europe too and in 24hours it seemed like everyone was on it already, as well as some big brands joining.  Ha, the new friendly twitter had arrived, I hoped.  But now after a few months I can say it's not at all. 
It has the continuous flow of posts and comments as had Twitter. You can scroll endlessly without getting bored if you want, which isn't as much the case on Mastodon. But contentwise, it's so much more Instagram.  The population of both tools is linked of course. The users seem much younger (and for some reason very Dutch instead of Belgian). 

Threads.net isn't without controversy and hatred either...especially on transgender discussions or tradwifes or so.  Weird. You need to curate who you follow carefully and stay away on the "for you" suggestions as much as you can but that's the case for many social media.  Well, not for Mastodon because they don't suggest anything, there you need to go and search and hunt for your content. 

I tested a few times posting something on FB and Mastodon and Threads and check the interaction. Too my surprise the interaction on Mastodon is often the highest. On Threads I get zero interaction.  

When it comes to lots of content to explore, Threads is by far the winner. On Mastodon I can easily reach the "end" of new posts after I scroll a bit.  For that reason I keep comparing it to a local pub where the same small group of familiar people are chatting a bit. That probably also explains the higher but predictable interaction.

But when it comes to staying up to date to news, it is back to Mastodon thanks to some good (bot?) media accounts that I found and track. 

After all this time however I notice I am a lurker on both platforms, mostly reading and at best making comments. Just as with Twitter back in the time, I don't post much myself.  I feel there's not much I need to say for a potentially unlimited public.  And if I want to, it feels safer to post on Mastodon.