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Since announcing his interest in buying Twitter and the consummation of the deal, Elon Musk has managed to produce a lot of noise and controversy, which has caused a certain shock to the normality of the popular bird network.
Intentionally or not, Mastodon and Koo gained prominence in the media and, above all, among users of the hybrid social network and microblogging.
If you are one of the many who want answers to the most frequent questions about these two “new” names in the segment, this post is for you.
What is Mastodon?
Presumably you can imagine that like Twitter, it is primarily a social network. In fact it is, however, as we shall shortly see, the mastodon it has very particular characteristics, not only in relation to Twitter, but also in relation to the others.
The mascot and also the name, refer to the prehistoric mammal mastodon.
Since it was launched in 2016, it cannot be said that the service is exactly new, but until mid-November 2022, it was far from being known to the large group of social media users. It was then that it started to appear under the spotlight and getting many users on a daily basis.
Those responsible for Mastodon, stated that they had more than 2.5 million active monthly users on November 22nd, and in just one day, the increase was almost 180,000!
Headquartered in Germany, its creator and main developer Eugen Rochko, created a network that in practical terms has some similarities and important differences compared to its main reference – Twitter.
What are the characteristics of Mastodon?
Technically speaking, it is a decentralized network, open source (open source), which makes use of ruby on rails on the server side and on the client or application side, it is written in the React.js (javascript) programming language.
As contradictory as it may seem, some of the peculiarities of the platform are at the same time its main advantages and disadvantages compared to other social networks.
This is because the fact that it is decentralized means that instead of the servers – more than 7.6K on 11/24 – that deliver the service being in a cloud (cloud computing), controlled and administered by a single entity, it makes use of servers operated independently, although they are interconnected.
This technical aspect also has administrative and policy-related implications for the network.
Anyone can start and host their own Mastodon server and create their own community, which is uniquely and strictly tied to the server, but which in turn can connect to other Mastodon servers.
According to its creator, this is intentional and aims to ensure that no one is in control of the entire network.
Each server – also called instances – has its own rules and moderators, who can act as full administrators of that server, for example, deciding who can join.
Therefore, unlike Twitter and other social networks, policies vary for each interest group in which a user decides to participate, in such a way that there is no chance of a decision blocking the account for full use of the service, but eventually only on that particular instance.
Yes, due to violation of some server / instance policy, blocking or banning may occur, but that does not affect other servers that the user is eventually enrolled in. Also, given the autonomy that each server administrator has, there may not be any rules or policies at all!
In other words, depending on your choices, the user can be in a total “mess” or under extreme rigor.
It also stems from this infrastructure, that due to geolocation and demand, the performance varies according to the server to which it is connected.
Finally, this administration of instances, which is predominantly done by volunteers, means that for the time being there is no monetization and no advertising.
How does Mastodon work?
Each server is like a group or community, since it is restricted to a subject of interest, such as Rock ‘n’ Roll, gastronomy, cinema or another more specific subject or even geographic region and, therefore, to participate in what you want , you need to create an account on the respective server.
Regardless of this, users of different servers can interact with each other, even if they are connected to other instances / servers or around specific interests, since there is communication between servers using specific protocols, for example, status and ActivityPub
Mastodon in some ways resembles the familiar usage and experience of Twitter, such as hashtags, comments, favorites and “retweet”, although here, the tweet is called a toot.
Therefore, for each subject you wish to follow, you must create an account on the respective server.
To join and start using it, you need to download the appavailable for Android and iOS.
On the service’s website, there is a list of some of the many servers, separated by geographic region or subject of interest and once you have subscribed to one, you can search for the others from it or any other.
Bearing in mind that the autonomy of the administration of each server makes it possible for some to require an invitation to join and for others to have free access, privacy policies vary and there may not even be any policies. Therefore, when choosing which one to participate in, you need to be aware of all this.
Also, if you are concerned – and you should be – with your privacy on the Internet, know that Mastodon has a privacy policy, but it is restricted to the service’s website.
Finally, when you join the network, just like on Twitter, you can follow other users and chat with them, regardless of which server they are on, and search for hashtags, share your own or third-party posts, as long as they are within the 500-character limit.
What is Koo?
Also like Twitter and Mastodon, Koo is a hybrid of microblogging and social networking.
Newer, since it was founded in 2020 by the Indians Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, who created the startup responsible for the app and that about a year later would receive investments from large companies, whose amount is estimated to have been around 100 million of dollars.
Koo reminds many things of Twitter, so much so that even its symbol / mascot is also a bird, only yellow.
Its first wave of success came within India itself and resulted from disagreements between the local government and the company of the blue bird, causing politicians, authorities, celebrities, artists and Indian influencers to make a movement to adhere to Koo and which leveraged others users.
Since then, partly motivated by the controversies involving Musk’s speeches and actions, users around the world have gradually been experiencing what the yellow bird microblog offers.
There are now 30 million app downloadsavailable for Android and iOS.
In the last 12 months alone, the growth rate is around 1000% in the user base and which, according to Aprameya Radhakrishna, is estimated to exceed 100 million by the end of 2022. Still far from the almost 240 million of the most famous competitor, but undoubtedly a surprising number if confirmed.
Koo in Brazil
In Brazil, Koo was successful, not only because of the similarities and because it constitutes an interesting alternative to the number 1 app of its kind, but in part because of the humorous and playful side of the Tupiniquim Internet user.
The name of the hammock, which has no translation into Portuguese and is due to the onomatopoeia of the sound emitted by the bird and which in phonetic terms around here, sounds just like the anal orifice in its less polished form.
As a result, jokes and memes using the name of the app have been popping up all the time and are infesting the web.
As soon as the founders understood one of the reasons for the interest of Brazilians and the repercussion caused, they also joined in the fun and even made a poll about the possibility of changing the name here.
Guess what… The vast majority has voted to keep Koo as it is!
Here the controversies involving Musk and his newest acquisition, are also pushing users towards other alternatives and that manifested itself through 1 million downloads in just 48 hours and making the servers not able to support the rapid and sudden increase of demand, making the service unavailable in the moments that followed the Brazilian invasion.
But quickly those responsible and the company’s technical area reacted and managed to restore the functioning and launched a hitherto non-existent Portuguese version of the app.
Ironically, they used Koo’s profile on the competing network, to celebrate and thank the Brazilian interest in the Indian network, as well as promising improvements aimed at meeting our wishes and needs.
The main features of Koo
Despite the greater similarity with the competing network, Koo has its own characteristics:
- According to one of its creators, the platform prioritizes posts in the local language and that is why it is already present in more than 100 different countries and languages;
- You can choose up to 10 different profile pictures, which will then be displayed as a gallery or slideshow;
- The algorithm based on artificial intelligence displays on your profile page a list of suggested profiles to follow and a feed with random Koos, which are what “tweets” are called on the yellow bird network;
- There’s also something like trending topics, but accessed by the fire icon and which indicates the most popular topics;
- Staying up to date with who you follow, terms of interest and notifications is accessible through a specific tab;
- The character limit for each post is 500 characters and can be complemented with photos, videos or a poll;
- Posts can be scheduled, defining a day and time for publication.
How to use Koo?
As with many social networks, the first step is to download the app according to your smartphone’s operating system.
With the app installed, you start by selecting the language and providing the phone number, through which you will receive a verification code.
The following steps refer to profile data, such as name, images and biographical data.
You can report other social networks that you are a part of, including the competing network.
Based on these procedures, which are very similar to most apps of the genre, naturally keeping the differences in steps and appearance, your account will be ready to use and to search for any contacts (people) and topics of interest and who knows how to abandon that other network so controversial lately…
Conclusion
Knowing more about Mastodon and Koo will help you choose which social networking alternative is best to replace or just threaten Twitter’s hegemony.
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