Mastodon: We Are Back

The discussion centers on Mastodon’s standing as a social network and whether its “We Are Back” framing reflects a meaningful return. One commenter questions whether influential people use the platform, arguing that Mastodon was expected to challenge or replace X/Twitter but instead seems dominated by complaints. They describe it as a network for people who “don’t do anything” and say it declined after its founder left.

Another commenter responds with examples of public figures who have Mastodon accounts, including Tim Berners-Lee, Stephen Fry, George Takei, and Mark Ruffalo. The first commenter says they recognize almost none of the names and argues that many of the accounts appear inactive, pointing to posts from two or three years ago as evidence of Mastodon’s irrelevance. The disagreement turns on what counts as a sign of the platform’s importance: having notable people listed as users, or seeing those people post actively and reaching an audience familiar to the commenter.