After Elon Musk‘s takeover of Twitter became official this week, many users found themselves flocking to different social media platforms.
Musk’s new position as CEO of the company resulted in mass layoffs on Friday in an effort to cut costs, with Bloomberg reporting that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was planning to axe around 50% of the staff. Other changes Musk plans to roll out include increasing the price of a Twitter Blue subscription from $4.99 to $8 per month, which will now be the only way to achieve verification on the site.
This development in particular has been a sticking point with many already-verified Twitter users, who fear that people paying for verification may try to impersonate journalists and elected officials to spread misinformation. Of course, there are also far-right platforms like Parler (which Kanye West reportedly now plans to buy) and Truth Social (founded by Donald Trump), but chances are users interested in those already left Twitter a long time ago.
So, if you’re looking for another outlet through which to scream into the void, here are four alternatives to Twitter that might be worth checking out — though at the moment, it’s hard to predict which one will become the internet’s favorite gathering place.
Mastodon
Perhaps the most popular Twitter alternative at the moment, Mastodon calls itself a “decentralized social network.” What does that mean, exactly? According to its official App Store description, the site consists of different “communities” and is “built with a focus on privacy and safety,” letting users decide who they want to share their posts with and providing content warnings. It also has an ad-free, chronological timeline, custom emojis and a 500-character limit. According to Gizmodo, there are already approximately 5.8 million accounts on Mastodon and counting, and it’s not owned by any one company, allowing the communities to be truly user-led. What’s more, Mastodon is one of many platforms in what’s called the Fediverse — a network of apps with different purposes (video, photo, music, books, writing, events, etc.) that share the same protocol — meaning joining Mastodon could open the door to a whole new internet world.
Tribel Social
Tribel proclaims itself to be “social media done right,” with an emphasis on safeguarding “morality, truth and We the People,” according to its App Store description. Developed by Likeopedia, Tribel prides itself on news feed customization, if you’re looking to avoid a doom-scrolling spiral. Users are also able to select a target audience for posts to maximize engagement, find topic experts quickly and get the opportunity to become a “star contributor” based on the quality of posts and number of likes. Plus, it claims to be “bigotry-free,” according to the app’s Instagram.
Counter Social
Jay Bauer’s Counter Social brands itself as a “next-gen social network,” with no trolls, abuse, ads, fake news or “foreign influence operations,” per its App Store description. True to its name, Counter Social claims to be the first social media platform to “take a zero-tolerance stance to hostile nations, bot accounts, trolls and disinformation networks.” Also, the site promises not to mine or sell any user data.
Cohost
Though Cohost does not yet have an app version, it could be a fun change of pace to kick it old-school on a desktop-only website. With an interface that seems to be a cross between Tumblr and Twitter, the platform wants to serve users first and plans to do so by not having an algorithm or any ads. Cohost believes that the value of social media should be in the quality of its posts — and not “designed around a vicious feedback loop that keeps users engaged at the expense of their mental health, all in order to make their executives more money,” as its website states.
