It's a zoo out there

Wait - what? Are we talking about nudist in zoos?

No, it's not that, although that has to be a load of fun as well.

I'm talking about blue birds and ancient elephants. Yes, it's Twitter and "Mastodon", also known as the "Fediverse".

What is their difference?

Twitter is 1 company that runs the whole show. They probably run LOADS of computers that allow every twitter user to talk to other twitter users.

The 'fediverse' is a federated universe, where LOADS of computers, each their own little world or topic of interest, can talk to LOADS of other computers, creating one huge world.

So, why does it matter where you are?

Twitter	Mastodon (a.k.a. Fediverse)
Free speech and expression, depending on what the owner allows. Currently Mr Musk, of Tesla, Neuralink and Starlink fame, rules.	Free speech and expression. If something you want to post isn't allowed by the person running an instance, you find another instance where you're free to do so.
Backed by a company that's there to make money. Advertising, blue badges you can rent on a monthly basis, are part of this.	Backed by hundreds of volunteer admins who run their own instances. Developed by 1 man who had this crazy idea of freedom.No one can shut down the system on his own.
All my naturist friends are on twitter, and for now twitter allows my nude pictures! Of course, I have to be careful at times or I get warned, (shadow)banned, suspended, etc.	More and more naturists are on Mastodon and they, too, post nude pictures. If you select the right instance (e.g. pl.nudie.social or body.social), you won't be slapped on the wrist for posting improper material. The moderators there have the same mindset as we do.

I think I described most of the important difference between the two systems.

There's a lot more to the 'Fediverse' than just Mastodon. There's also Pixelfed, which is its version of Instagram - without the ban on nudity. There's Peertube, which is like youtube - without the ban on nudity on the proper instances. No, don't wait, even though there's even more. I'm not going into that because I don't know what all that is.

Interested? Intrigued? Give it a try. It's free. In every way.

Not interested  Can't be bothered? Be happy where you are!