Twitter | CounterSocial | Mastodon Feature Comparison
Here are some of my observations of feature comparisons between Twitter, CounterSocial and Mastadon. I've been using Twitter for more than a decade, CounterSocial since late April 2022 and Mastodon via Universodon for only a few days.
This is only a brief overview of what each site has to offer. It's some of the basics and features I find the most useful. Your experience may vary. My explanations are below.
A NOTE ABOUT MASTODON
Mastodon is a network of social networks that are interconnected. You have to choose an instance (or server) to get started. You can change your server, but your posts won't follow you. Whether or not your followers move with you depends on their server's software supports move activity.
There is also a very heavy cooldown period in which you cannot migrate again, so be very careful before using this option!
ADVANCED WEB LAYOUT
If you're looking for a column based feed, you'll need to use a third party website or app if you're a Twitter user. CounterSocial (herein referred to as CoSo) enables the Advanced Web Layout by default and Mastodon allows you to enable it optionally in your profile/settings.
ALT TEXT REMINDER
Twitter is the only platform that will remind you if you haven't entered ALT text on an image before you submit your post. Both CoSo and Mastadon have gentle overlays if you hover over the image once you've attached it to your draft, but beyond that I'm unsure. Mastadon claims to have a reminder to add ALT text (at least within the Universeodon instance). I have not uploaded any images to Mastadon yet, so time will tell.
AUTO-DELETE POSTS
Only Mastadon gives you the ability to auto-delete your posts after a certain time period for free. CoSo does have limited functionality for direct messages that you have to opt-in to. Pro (paid) subscribers can use the exploding post option on a per post or "set as default" basis.
BOOKMARKS
Twitter has bookmarks, but I often forget they exist. There is a link to view bookmarks in one place, but it just doesn't engage me. CoSo does not have bookmarks, however I believe it's a feature they could possibly implement since they appear to be running on Mastodon's OpenSource software and Mastodon, does indeed have bookmarks. My bookmarks have their own column for visbility.
CHARACTER LIMIT
Both CoSo and Mastadon beat Twitter's 280 character limit allowing 500 characters each.
CONTENT WARNINGS
While Twitter only has content warnings integrated for images, CoSo allows you only to mark the entire post with a content warning, wheeas Mastodon allows you to mark either the image, the post or both.
FILTERS
Twitter has muted words, etc. They're buried deep in your profile. Both CoSo and Mastodon have links to muted users, blocked users, hidden domains and muted words on the three dots menu next to your profile image.
GLOBAL POST VISIBILITY
Post visibility has a lot to do with how many users are on the platform, but these three are all very unique.
As far as Twitter goes, you see who you follow, what you might like, what the accounts you're following like, reweets, trending, etc., but discoverability is limited. Hashtags (tags) are a free-for-all (though nowhere near off the chain as Tumblr), so any custom hashtag can be used (without spaces, sorry Tumblr).
I believe CoSo sets themselves apart in this arena the most because they set up curated tags that help customize your space, find others with similar interests and share with others like you. Again, no spaces here. There's also the community firehose with posts from all of CoSo. You still have who you follow in your main feed and what they repost as well, not what they like, not what you might like and all that jazz. YOU curate your space.
Mastodon is a bit trickier. You have to join an instance (or a unique server), then you have a feed for who you follow and their reposts, then you have your server's posts, then there are posts from ALL the servers using Mastadon. In minutes you can have thousands of posts come through the feed. It can be too much. Again, not what other folks like (favorite), what you might like and all that jazz. You do curate your space, but you might either have fear of missing out (FOMO) or be overwhelmed in a sea of posts.
GROUPS
Groups are a paid feature only available on CoSo at this time. However, one might consider the instance (server) you join on Mastodon as a group depending on its specialization.
MOBILE APPS
All have both Android and iOS apps. Twitter's mobile app seems to be the most comparable to its web app, however if you're a content creator with a business/professional account, some features can't be accessed, such as overall analytics.
You won't get the advanced web layout with any.
CoSo has some web only features outside of advanced web layout, but it doesn't really affect the mobile app experience in my opinion. They're more bells and whistles.
I'm using the official Mastodon app and I can't quite tell what's going on there, but I feel like I'm missing out. On that note, there are quite a few free and paid third party apps available. It looks like Fedilab for Android has the most robust features and gives you more of the web experience. I cannot comment on iOS apps at this time.
ADS
Twitter's main revenue stream is ads. Neither CoSo or Mastodon have ads. CoSo is community funded, much like the individual instances (servers). Mastodon itself is a gGmbH (a German form of a non-profit LLC) as of 2021.
POST EDIT
The ability to edit posts is a featue of Twitter Blue, which recently increased in price to $7.99 (USD) per month. With Twitter Blue, you can edit a tweet up to five times within 30 minutes.
CoSo only allows the abiity to delete and re-draft. It saves you the work of rewriting the post, but you lose all likes (favorites), retweets (boosts) and comments.
This is where Mastodon excels. So far, I've been able to edit my post with no loss of anything for over 24 hours. I will continue testing to see how this feature works.
PUBLIC LANDING PAGE
Twitter's public landing page is in the form of a URL and is available to all account types. It's cluttered with sidebars.
CoSo offers a clean public landing page for Pro users (paid account). They currently charge $4.99 per month for a Pro account and have a variety of features.
TAGS
Again, no spaces allowed in tags on any of these platforms. All three allow use of custom hashtags, but I find CoSo's curated tags to be of the utmost help in seeing posts and finding users that are like-minded. Since they're curated, discoverability is much higher. Both CoSo and Mastodon allow you to pin tags, as well as have multiple tags within a pinned column. Twitter does not allow you to follow tags (hashtags).
VERIFICATION
Twitter has opened up verification to all by integrating it within Twitter Blue, somewhat making it meaningless, in my opinion.
As far as I can tell, you cannot verify your user profile itself on either CoSo or Mastodon, but if you're a website owner, you can verify your website. This is the extent of what I've tried.
OVERALL
I prefer CoSo overall, however two features that I would love to see implemented over there are better post-editing and a bookmarks feature. What wins me over the most about CoSo, though, is the curated tags. It really makes the user experience more friendly and increases discoverability.
CONTRIBUTE
If you find an error, please let me know and I will correct both in my image and my post after confirming.
