Mastodon Social
| Developer(s) | Eugen Rochko |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 5 October 2016[1] |
| Development status | Active |
| Written in | Ruby, JavaScript |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Available in | English, German, Ukrainian, French, Spanish, Portuguese |
| Type | Microblogging |
| License | Affero General Public License |
| Website | mastodon |
Mastodon is a piece of software that implements a web-based federated microblogging server. Users can post 500-character status messages which can optionally include images, Hashtag-based topic metadata, and linked mentions of other users. It is open source and there are nearly 250 instances online.[2]
Due to its federated nature, users of any instance can see posts made by users on any other connected instance.[3] There is not a single server owned by a single individual or company; instead, there are various servers with their own sets of users, who can follow and interact with users from other servers in the network. [4][5][6]
Contents
Relation to the Ecosystem[edit]
Mastodon is a GNU social compatible built on Ruby on Rails, React.js, and Redux. It implements the OStatus-suite of protocols such as ActivityStreams, WebFinger, PubSubHubbub, and Salmon. Mastodon is also compatible with GNU social's forks, Friendica, and certain websites that are also OStatus/Webfinger compatible, but not StatusNet-based instances.[7]
Implementation[edit]
Mastodon can be run on a Linux server either using Docker and Docker Compose[8] or standalone. It requires a number of other open source software packages, including Ruby, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, and ImageMagick.[9] It can also be deployed and run on Heroku.[10]
The server implements a RESTful client API with JSON and a streaming API for real-time client updates, using OAuth2 for authentication. Users can post statuses, called "toots", with up to 500 characters, along with optional images and video content.
The user interface is built with a great deal of customization and user control in mind. Posts can be individually protected so that they can be seen only by followers, and there is an option to require followers to be approved.[11] Users can also add content warnings to posts, which hides the post content until dismissed.[12] Blocking support is very extensive; blocking a user will not only hide their posts, but reblogs of their posts and posts that mention them.[13][14]
Notable users[edit]
This section is a stub for notable organizations running Mastodon instances.
See also[edit]
- Comparison of software and protocols for distributed social networking
- Comparison of microblogging services
References[edit]
- ^ "Project announcement on Hacker News".
- ^ Rochko, Eugen. "Mastodon - Learn More". mastodon.social. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ "Mastodon Social is THE Twitter Alternative for…". Robek World. 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
- ^ Bonnington, Christina (2016-11-22). "Mastodon is an open source, decentralized version of Twitter". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
- ^ Tidey, Jimmy (2017-01-06). "What would Twitter be if it adopted Wikipedia's politics?". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
- ^ "Are You on Mastodon Yet? Social Network of Our Own".
- ^ "tootsuite/mastodon". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
- ^ "Running with Docker and Docker-Compose". GitHub.
- ^ "Production guide". GitHub.
- ^ "GitHub - tootsuite/mastodon: A GNU Social-compatible microblogging server". github.com. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ "Add support for private accounts · Issue #180 · tootsuite/mastodon · GitHub". github.com. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ "proper content warnings and more extensive sensitive content · Issue #239 · tootsuite/mastodon · GitHub". github.com. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ "Hide posts from blocked users that have been reblogged by someone you follow · Issue #60 · tootsuite/mastodon · GitHub". github.com. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ "Filter mentions from unblocked users that reply to a status by a blocked user · Issue #63 · tootsuite/mastodon · GitHub". github.com. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
External links[edit]
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