There's something about Mastodon that has this old-timey internet feel to it, if that makes sense.

It reminds me of joining a forum or community online in the late '90s or early 2000s where you really had to learn the mores and personality of the place.

It doesn't feel like other modern social media.

@ashton - I saw an interesting distinction this weekend between social networks and social media. I think Mastodon is a social network that may not ever become social media and may not even want to be.

@ashton - But I had an interesting experiment today. I'm not a big deal on Twitter by any stretch, but I posted identical posts about my book chapter on Twitter, Mastodon, Facebook, and LinkedIn this weekend. I got the least engagement, by far, on Twitter.

There could be a lot of reasons for that, but it makes an impression on me.