My social media roots on the internet go way back to MySpace. Remember that crazy place where everybody with absolutely no design sense filled their profile page with clashing colors and annoying animations?

Actually, now that I think about it, my social media predates the Internet, as I was active on several BBS (bulletin board sites) back when I was using a dial up 1200 baud modem attached to my Commodore 64.

But MySpace died when everyone fled to join Facebook. I joined Facebook when my high school class was planning our 30 year reunion, and it was nice being able to reconnect with my best friends from high school who had all moved away.

When the news of Cambridge Analytica broke in 2018, I immediately closed my Facebook account and moved to Twitter. I refused to support a company that used my private data to help elect Donald.

Twitter was an enjoyable place to hang out for the next four years. The day that Elon Musk bought Twitter is the day I closed my Twitter account and joined up on a new social media site I had heard about, Mastodon.

Elon Musk of course renamed Twitter (with a cute bird logo) to X, maybe so he could have a logo as close to a swastika as possible. I could write a whole article about Musk’s links to Nazism, but suffice it to say, as predicted, X quickly turned into a right-wing cesspool, and people who didn’t support Nazis fled in droves.

My one big disagreement with our usual steady representative, Jared Huffman, is that he is still using Facebook and X for social media, and does not have a presence on Mastodon. I keep pressuring him on that though, as I miss hearing what he’s doing.

So what is Mastodon, I hear you all asking. Aside from being an extinct relative of the modern day elephant, Mastodon is a distributed social network, part of the Fediverse. Without getting too bogged down in details, it means that unlike Facebook, X, BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Truth Social and just about every other social media site, Mastodon is not owned by some right-wing billionaire or corporation where your data is their product to be sold to advertisers.

Mastodon’s major difference is that it is de-centralized, running on numerous servers all around the world. Each server (called an instance) is independent, but they can all talk to each other, in the same way that someone with a Gmail email address can communicate with someone on Yahoo. Some servers are setup for geographic purposes, such as the one HumDem just joined, which is norcal.social. It is focused on users in Northern California. Others are set up for artists, or LGBQT, or other varied interests. Each server is allowed to create their own setup and rules, and that can effect your experience.

But most Mastodon instances are very liberal biased, and they don’t put up with right-wing trolling for very long. The best thing about Mastodon though is your feed. You only see the posts from people you follow, and it’s a straight chronological feed; there’s no algorithm at work deciding what you are shown. It’s up to you to explore and follow those people and organizations that intrigue you.

You can access Mastodon from a PC or Mac, as well as they have their own app for Android and iPhone. There are even 3rd party apps for Mastodon that offer more features if you’re willing to spend some money.

The easiest way to join is to use the link below. That will sign you up on norcal.social and automatically set you up to follow the HumDem account. We will be providing a currated feed of news that we feel is important for those interested in saving our democracy.

Unlike Facebook, you don’t have to reveal your real identity when joining Mastodon, and I wouldn’t recommend using your real name, unless you’re promoting yourself as your brand. You just need an email address you can use for the signup process.

https://norcal.social/invite/qtL3RUJe

If you’re already on Mastodon, give us a follow. You’ll find us at humdem@norcal.social