The decentralized social network Mastodon has announced that it is making it easier to create an account on the fediverse – or at least on its own server. Now when you try to sign up with Mastodon, you will get an easy option to create an account on mastodon.social instead of choosing a server.
One of the main complaints of joining the Mastodon network is the complicated login flows for different servers. This process can be overwhelming compared to a centralized social network like Twitter or Instagram.
Eugene Rochko, founder and CEO of Mastodon, said in a blog post that this new feature doesn’t take away users’ choice of choosing one server or moving to another after they sign up. They can select “Choose my own server” if they want to join another instance.
Rochko also said the improved onboarding makes it easier for people to get started and later understand the benefits of decentralization.
“You may be wondering how a default server option promotes decentralization. It is important to us that Mastodon is a good product on its own merits, not just its ideology. If we only attract people who already care about decentralization, it will be much more difficult to make decentralization mainstream,” he said.
“This gives us a much better chance to showcase what decentralized social networks have to offer rather than having that person bounce and never hear from them again.”
Last year, after Elon Musk took over Twitter, several users started registering on Mastodon to find an alternative network. At one point, Rochko’s team had to stop signups for mastodon.social to ensure good quality of service.
With the latest update, the social network is upgrading its infrastructure and moderation tools to ensure a smooth and safe experience for users.
In addition, Mastodon will soon be rolling out improvements such as quoted replies and better content and profile searches, along with the ability to create groups. This will make it more competent social networking for people trying to build followers and communities.
Hopefully, these features will be available for external Mastodon clients such as Ivory, Mammoth, and Woolly.
In recent weeks, the Jack Dorsey-backed decentralized Bluesky has seen a lot of activity. While the network is still in invite-only mode, the organization recently launched an Android app, rolled out new moderation tools, shipped new developer tools, and passed the 50,000 user mark. The network has a similar design to Twitter when it comes to interacting with messages, and that makes it appealing to users who might want to move to an alternative network.