Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl In a meaningful sense, the Likes of X are ex-social media apps. They are ad-selling, opinion-steering vehicles for the powerful.
Mastodon has been refreshingly social.
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl I'm going to keep this!
"<<insert bigtech platform>> is where the rich decide what we can talk about."
Nicely put! A clear eyeopener.
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@xs4me2 I think we need a different term for what Threads is.
Mastodon is clearly a social medium, but Threads is…
I would say an antisocial medium.
@randahl @xs4me2 Not a community for sure.
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
How would it fare on decentralised bluesky?
Alas! We cannot know, as decentralised bluesky is currently down.
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl Same goes for Bluesky.
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@winkelmesser It does now.
@gsymon@randahl @winkelmesser @gsymon you gotta love the alt-text police.
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl @stux Meta has never been a place to share external content. They always preferred Freebooting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6A1Lt0kvMA
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl I think you can just close your threads account.
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@randahl @winkelmesser @gsymon you gotta love the alt-text police.
@caiocgo @randahl @winkelmesser @gsymon it's just inclusivity in practice. #noaltnoboost
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
I don’t understand this example as 'the rich decide what we can talk about‘.
I understand this as 'one rich individual wants to keep us in his wallet garden to make more money‘. In consequence we can’t see the green grass on the other side of the fence. That doesn’t fit to an open society in the 21. century.
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@randahl I'm quite new to using this platform. Any tips to help initiate curate an algorithm and people to follow?
@depressivehacks @randahl the algorithm is you. Follow a lot, get out of your comfort bubble, and dont hesitate to unfollow after a while to focus your feed on your preferred topics.
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Socialmedia managers: ThErEs nO PoInT In uSiNg mAsToDoN As nObOdY Is oN It
@Goldmaster also the fediverse: "shut up, brands!"
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl I don't really get Threads anyway, as it's just Facebook in a trendier wrapper. It was often touted in the media how Threads would be interoperable with the Fediverse, but it seems that many of the platform's users like to discuss themselves instead, in Meta's own walled garden.
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl Just a note: We shouldn't link to YouTube in the Fediverse at all—there are alternatives. -
@xs4me2 I think we need a different term for what Threads is.
Mastodon is clearly a social medium, but Threads is…
I would say an antisocial medium.
@randahl Media like this to me should be open source, transparent and free of commercial bias.
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I don’t understand this example as 'the rich decide what we can talk about‘.
I understand this as 'one rich individual wants to keep us in his wallet garden to make more money‘. In consequence we can’t see the green grass on the other side of the fence. That doesn’t fit to an open society in the 21. century.
@strght @randahl It is the rich and not merely one man because Meta is publicly held. If Meta's shareholders didn't like a product feature and/or level of profitability, that one man would ensure Meta changed to meet shareholders' expectations.
Of course that one man is also one of the largest shareholders of Meta so he shares the same profit motivation.
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl So, i suppose that now you know you speak on the void on thread, you can decide to quit it ?
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Why is Mastodon the best social medium in 2026?
Picture 1: If I share a post with some objectively good news, it gets 97 boosts and 140 likes.
Picture 2: If I share the same post on Threads, it gets zero interactions — zero! — because it contains a link to the competing social medium YouTube, and on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that the algorithm should not promote such content.
Threads is where the rich decide what we can talk about.
On Mastodon, we decide.
@randahl
How many followers do you have on Threads, for scale?
