, which can be replied to, liked and re-posted, and they can follow each other.Under the bonnet, though, it works in a different way.That's one of the reasons it is attracting fresh users, but it has caused some confusion to new people signing up.The platform is six years old but its current activity is unprecedented and it is struggling under the weight of new joiners.Here's a brief guide to finding your way around it.The first thing you have to do when you sign up is choose a server. There are loads of them, They are themed - many by country, city or interest - like UK, social, technology, gaming and so on.It doesn't hugely matter which one you are on because you will be able to follow users on all the others anyway, but it does give you a starting community who are more likely to post things you are interested in as well.Some of the popular ones - such as social and UK - are currently running very slowly because of demand.Ryan Wilding, who is running the Mastodon.UK server via his firm Superior Networks, said he had over 6,000 new joiners in 24 hours and had to pause registration. "I wanted to see what the hype was about," he said."I stood the server up at 10pm Friday night, and I woke up next morning to 1,000 people I didn't know would rock up."The server you choose becomes part of your user name - so for example, I used my current Twitter handle, zsk, and chose the UK server, making my user name @zsk@mastodon.uk. And that's my address there - what you would look up to find me.If you are on the same server, you can search just using the person's name, but if they are on a different serve){kind=link}
In the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, some users have been seeking alternative platforms. One of the biggest beneficiaries has been Mastodon. But what is it?
The social network says it now has over 655,000 users – with over 230,000 having joined in the last week.
On the surface Mastodon looks like Twitter – account users write posts (called “toots”), which can be replied to, liked and re-posted, and they can follow each other.
Under the bonnet, though, it works in a different way.
That’s one of the reasons it is attracting fresh users, but it has caused some confusion to new people signing up.