Mastodon
Social networksYour own social media server, connected to the wider fediverse.
Mastodon lets you run a social network that you control, instead of relying on one company's platform. Your server still connects to people on other Mastodon servers and other ActivityPub software, so members are not cut off. Timelines are chronological with no ads, and you decide the rules and how they are enforced.
- Federates over ActivityPub with other Mastodon servers and compatible software.
- Shows posts in chronological order, with media, polls and content warnings.
- Includes reporting, account limits, suspensions and server-wide domain blocks.
What people use it for
Give your organisation its own verified social presence
Set up a Mastodon server on your own domain so staff and official accounts have handles under that domain. Add your website to each profile's metadata fields and link back to the profile with rel="me", and Mastodon shows a verification checkmark next to the link. People on other Mastodon servers and compatible platforms can follow those accounts directly.
Moderate a community under your own rules
Handle reports from members in the admin area and apply the server's rules. Moderators can mark an account's media as sensitive, or freeze, limit or suspend an account. Domain blocks can limit or suspend whole remote servers, reject their media, and import shared blocklists as CSV files.
Build tools on the Mastodon API
Register your application with the server, since Mastodon acts as an OAuth2 provider, then use the REST API to post, read timelines and manage accounts. The streaming API pushes new posts in real time. Third-party Mastodon apps are built on the same APIs.