Mastodon (software)

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mastodon

Mastodon Logotype (Simple)
Mastodon Single-column-layout.png
Web user interface
Basic data

Maintainer Eugene Rochko
developer Eugene Rochko
Publishing year 2016
Current  version 3.2.0
( July 26, 2020 )
programming language Ruby on Rails , React , Node.js
category Distributed microblogging service
License AGPL-3.0
joinmastodon.org

Mastodon is a distributed microblogging - Service provided by since 2016 Eugen Rochko is developed, a German programmer from Jena . In contrast to large platforms like Twitter , Mastodon is designed as a decentralized network , similar to GNU Social . Users can join any instance or run their own. Starting with version 1.6, the W3C ActivityPub standard was supported (and also OStatus-Services as a fallback). However, the implementation of the OStatus standard from version 3.0 onwards was removed and with it the compatibility with GNU Social. The instances of the service are part of the Fediverse .

The project is free software and is available with its source code under the GNU Affero General Public License . The development and, among other things, the operation of the mastodon.social instance are financed by donations to Rochko.

history

The development of Mastodon started in March 2016. The Mastodon project was first made public on October 5th, 2016 on Hacker News. The oldest still active servers are mastodon.social, the developer's instance, awoo.space, social.tchncs.de and icosahedron.website. The more than 2,800 instances can be found at joinmastodon.org.

Major servers that each accelerated the spread of Mastodon came in April 2017 with mstdn.jp, the first Japanese server with tens of thousands of new users in a few days, and in May 2018 after a change in the law in the USA (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act) which led to the founding of switter.at, an open and free platform for sex workers, which in a short time exceeded the 100,000 user threshold and now has over 200,000 users.

Technical and functional milestones

  • October and November 2016 - Interface for mobile devices, hashtags , search for users, "Publish" becomes "Tröt" in German
  • December 2016 and January 2017 - The word “blog” becomes “boost” (German “share”), various functions are added, such as a closed account, private messages, content warnings (warning of stimulus-inducing content) and two-factor authentication
  • February 2017 - A reporting function for violations of the terms of use was introduced and the public timeline was split into a local timeline for your own instance and a federated timeline
  • March, April, June 2017 - Emojis can be added to the posts via the editor, GIF autoplay can be deactivated in the settings, columns in the web interface become flexible and users can delete their accounts
  • August, September 2017 - Update of the Mastodon logo, push notifications are implemented, Mastodon implements ActivityPub according to OStatus , posts can be pinned to the profile
  • October, December 2017 - Your own emojis can be used on an instance, alternative texts for attached media (images and videos) to improve the barrier-free display , a list function is introduced
  • March 2018 - A search function and a download function for backing up user data is introduced
  • May 2018 - The metadata of the user profile can be flexibly adapted, the data protection declaration has been adapted to the GDPR
  • September 2018 - Federation support has been expanded to include options for finding content and the presentation of profile data has been redesigned
  • October 2018 - Link previews are now displayed in posts and links can be verified in the profile data
  • April 2019 - Surveys can be created. Keybase profiles can now be verified. They are displayed like verified links in the profile.
  • May 2019 - Images in posts that have been given a content warning are displayed blurred using the blurhash algorithm instead of hidden behind a black area. The same representation is also used for images that are reloaded. Images behind this display are not loaded into the browser cache .
  • June 2019 - A one-column layout has been introduced to improve the user experience.
  • July 2019 - The software change from Gab to Mastodon is reported, as Gab is associated with hate texts, anti-Semitism and racism and does not prevent them.

technology

The backend is written in Ruby on Rails , the JavaScript libraries React.js and Redux are used for the frontend .

Use and dissemination

Registered users can broadcast telegram-like short messages on Mastodon . These messages are called "Toots" or translated "Tröts". Mastodon allows 500 characters per contribution (Tröt). In April 2017, mastodon.social had around 42,000 users. On May 25, 2017, there were over 650,000 users on 1624 instances worldwide. At the beginning of 2020 there were over 3.5 million users who sent 332 million messages from 2800 instances. The main countries (according to users) are Japan (approx. 0.8 million), Germany (approx. 0.4 million), the United States and France (each approx. 0.14 million).

As of January 23, 2018, the ActivityPub protocol has been an official recommendation of the W3C.

Web links

Commons : Mastodon (social network)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release v.0.1.0 . March 16, 2016 (accessed May 23, 2020).
  2. ↑ Release 3.2.0 . July 26, 2020 (accessed July 27, 2020).
  3. ↑ a b c In: Readme .
  4. ↑ github.com .
  5. ↑ a b Gargron: Frequently Asked Questions. (No longer available online.) In: tootsuite / mastodon. January 21, 2017, archived from the original on April 4, 2017 ; accessed on April 6, 2017 .
  6. ↑ a b c Daniel Berger: Decentralized and Open Source: Is Mastodon the better Twitter? In: heise online . April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Your self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community: tootsuite / mastodon. TootSuite, October 8, 2019, accessed October 8, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Casey Newton: Mastodon.social is an open-source Twitter competitor that's growing like crazy. In: The Verge . April 4, 2017, accessed April 6, 2017 .
  9. ↑ a b c Eugen Rochko: Mastodon's 2 Year Anniversary. October 14, 2018, accessed January 2, 2019 .
  10. ↑ A new Decentralized microblogging platform. Accessed January 2, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Eugen Rochko: Mastodon 2.0. In: Mastodon Blog. October 19, 2017, accessed May 27, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Eugen Rochko: Mastodon 2.5 released. In: Mastodon Blog. September 5, 2018, accessed May 27, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Eugen Rochko: Mastodon 2.6 released. In: Mastodon Blog. October 31, 2018, accessed May 27, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Eugen Rochko: Mastodon 2.8. In: Mastodon Blog. April 10, 2019, accessed May 27, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Eugen Rochko: Improving support for adult content on Mastodon. In: Mastodon Blog. May 5, 2019, accessed May 27, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Eleanor: Mastodon 2.9 - Introducing the single-column layout. Retrieved June 14, 2019 .
  17. ^ Adi Robertson: How the biggest decentralized social network is dealing with its Nazi problem. July 12, 2019, accessed July 19, 2019 .
  18. ^ Berlet, Tristan & Christian Allner. Radio. Mastodon - #Onlinegeister Quickie (Social Media Podcast) (Interview). #Onlinegeister - radio about network culture, social media and PR. Radio Corax Halle (Saale) . April 26, 2017. Accessed on May 25, 2017.
  19. ^ Matt Burgess: Could Mastodon be the social network to replace Twitter? In: Wired . April 5, 2017, accessed April 6, 2017 .
  20. ↑ Adam Boult: What is Mastodon? The new social network vying to be the next Twitter. In: The Telegraph . April 5, 2017, accessed April 6, 2017 .
  21. ↑ user count on mastodon.social . In: Mastodon . April 5, 2017 ( mastodon.social [accessed April 6, 2017]).
  22. ↑ mastodon instances . In: Grafana Network Overview . May 25, 2017 ( mastodon.xyz [accessed May 25, 2017]).
  23. ↑ Mastodon Instances. Retrieved January 10, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Country Drilldown, Mastodon Monitoring Project. Accessed January 2, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Activity Pub. Accessed March 15, 2018 .