Is it Mastodon time?

What’s the price of a blue tick? That’s a question that Elon Musk still doesn’t seem to know the answer to. First, it was $40. Then $8. But, it’s seemingly more and more likely to be hordes of top Tweeters who are jumping ship.

Not only does Mr Musk seem to have alienated his core user group on the platform, but he’s also spooked advertisers. Big names such as Carlsberg, General Motors, Pfizer, Mondelez and Volkswagen have paused their investment in advertising on the platform, mainly in fear of being caught up in the controversy around content moderation and free speech. Only time will tell how long this boycott will last for.

So where are people going as an alternative? Look no further than Mastodon, the open source social media platform. Created as a rival to Twitter back in 2016, the platform has gained over 120,000 users in the past week alone.

But there already seems to be trouble in paradise. If you’ve not set up an account on Mastodon yet, it’s…different. Being open source, it means that the social platform is run by a variety of 'servers', often by volunteers. This means that people will likely use a different server than their followers on Twitter, making it difficult for people to find each other.

This open source business model also means that advertising is a no-go as well. So, whilst it’s still early days, there are some fundamental differences between Tooting and Tweeting that users (and brands) will need to get used to. But whilst Mastodon isn’t a DAO, given the direction Web 3.0 is taking, opening up the internet to the world in a way that’s not been seen before, brands who are quick off the mark in finding their place in the world of Mastodon may well reap the rewards.

If you want to hear any more about Web 3.0, download our Tailwinds report here.

Oh, and see you on Mastodon!