Twitter has been living through turbulent times since Elon Musk took over. In just a month and a half, the social media’s policies have radically changed; it has even made features that were always free of charge payable. Furthermore, there has been a succession of layoffs, hundreds of employees have resigned en masse, and accounts that were once suspended for very serious reasons are back.
With this scenario, it is not surprising that many users are looking for alternatives that offer the same (or similar) features as Twitter. If you are one of them, don’t worry, because below we are going to give you a few options very similar to the microblogging network so you can start using them today and jump off the boat before it sinks.
Mastodon
Let’s start with what is considered the best alternative to the bluebird network. Mastodon is a decentralized platform launched in 2016. Because of its similarities to Twitter, it was always considered an alternative to the latter, but it wasn’t until the arrival of Elon Musk that it began to massively grow.
It is an open-source platform created by a decentralized federation of servers managed by volunteers. Each server has its own rules of use and the administrators can kick someone off if they break them, so if you go to Mastodon to escape censorship, it may not be the place for you.
The first time you register, you must choose a server. You’ll be able to exchange posts and links with other users on the same server, but also on other servers across the network.
The best thing about Mastodon is that it offers you a very Twitter-like experience. And we are not only talking about the design, but also about features: hashtags, replies, bookmarks and something like retweets are used, and all with no advertising.
Hive Social
Another name brought to the spotlight by the Twitter debacle is Hive Social. It is a fairly new social media that combines elements similar to Twitter with others from Instagram. In addition, this social media chimera also resembles the extinct MySpace.
Since it is a very recent social media platform, it is only available in English. The good thing is that, because it is very similar to the other platforms mentioned, the learning curve is minimal and you will be able to use it from day one, even if you are not fluent in the language.
Its similarities to Twitter begin with a profile page where the user shows their information. Here you can also share written messages (as if they were tweets) to which GIFs, stickers or emojis can be applied.
Hive Social also allows you to share large images as if they were Instagram posts. It even has a discovery section that displays trending content and other feeds based on your interests. The icing on the cake is that you can also include a song in your profile, as you did in the days of Myspace.
BlueSky Social
BlueSky Social is a new social media that comes from the creator of Twitter, Jack Dorsey. It is a completely different concept from Twitter, as it proposes a decentralized protocol for users’ freedom’s sake.
More specifically, BlueSky Social is based on the AT (Authenticated Transfer) protocol, which offers a similar experience to that of email clients. BlueSky’s goal is to give users more control over what they see and who they reach, rather than being controlled by the company that owns the platform.
Unfortunately, BlueSky Social is still in closed beta, but you can add yourself to their waiting list to get in when it’s ready. Interestingly, during the first two days alone with this listing open, the platform received requests from 30,000 users.
Minds
Minds is like Hive Social, a hybrid between Twitter and Instagram, but with the difference that it is an open-source platform. Its interface combines information (news) with posts that can be commented on and reacted to. It also lets you have private or group chats with other users.
Its biggest asset is its reward system. This system grants you MINDS tokens (ERC-20) every time you share a news item on your profile or interact with other posts. You can use these to increase the visibility of your posts and improve your profile or operate with them.
Moreover, you can customize your algorithm to decide for yourself what kind of content you want to be shown and what not.
