[ti:Users Concerned about Twitter Seek Alternative Services] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Twitter has already seen a drop in users [00:04.36]since American billionaire Elon Musk [00:08.12]bought the social media service last month. [00:12.48]Some users and experts have expressed concerns [00:17.68]about Musk's stated plans to limit [00:21.36]existing restrictions on user content. [00:25.72]Musk has said his goal is to protect [00:29.72]the free speech of Twitter users. [00:32.88]But critics say his plan [00:36.04]could increase the amount of harmful content [00:39.72]and hate speech appearing on the service. [00:43.68]Musk also announced plans [00:46.96]to start charging Twitter users $8 a month [00:51.48]to keep a verified account. [00:54.76]Bot Sentinel is a company that looks [00:58.20]for inauthentic behavior on Twitter. [01:01.84]It recently estimated the service saw 877,000 accounts [01:09.44]deactivated between October 27 and November 1. [01:15.56]In addition, Bot Sentinel said it identified about 497,000 accounts [01:24.04]that had been suspended during the same period. [01:28.44]The company's findings were reported by MIT Technology Review. [01:35.40]"We believe the (rise) in deactivations [01:39.36]is the result of people upset with Elon Musk [01:43.64]purchasing Twitter and deciding to deactivate their accounts in protest," [01:50.48]Bot Sentinel chief Christopher Bouzy told the publication. [01:56.24]Musk himself tweeted that "Twitter user numbers have increased [02:01.96]significantly around the world since the deal was announced." [02:07.08]Musk did not provide exact numbers to support his claim. [02:12.96]Even if Twitter did lose nearly a million users [02:17.04]after Musk's takeover, the social media service still remains huge. [02:23.60]The company said earlier this year [02:26.36]it had more than 238 million active daily users. [02:32.36]One of the main alternatives to Twitter is a service called Mastodon. [02:39.16]It was created by German developer Eugen Rochko in 2016. [02:46.36]Mastodon looks like and operates very similarly to Twitter. [02:52.32]It lets users post short messages and other content. [02:57.56]The service does not have advertisements. [03:01.52]But Mastodon is very different from Twitter [03:05.36]because it uses a decentralized system. [03:09.56]Each user must sign up to an independently operated server. [03:15.32]The servers are largely run by volunteer administrators [03:20.40]who link their systems together. [03:22.96]Rochko has said one goal of Mastodon [03:27.44]is to provide the public with a social media network [03:31.28]that does not depend on a centralized organization, [03:35.64]like Twitter and Facebook do. [03:38.76]The service is also designed to provide more privacy protections. [03:44.92]In a message posted on the service earlier this week, [03:49.36]Rochko said Mastodon had reached [03:52.84]more than 1 million active users [03:55.84]in the days after Musk bought Twitter. [03:59.28]Ethan Zuckerman is a social media expert [04:03.68]at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. [04:08.40]He wrote in a message last week, [04:11.12]"I've gotten more new followers on Mastodon in the last week [04:16.48]than I have in the previous five years." [04:19.80]Supporters of Mastodon note that no single company [04:25.00]or person can force their will on the whole system [04:29.36]or shut it all down. [04:31.68]For example, they say if an extremist voice [04:35.80]appeared on a particular server, [04:38.44]it would be easy enough for other servers to cut ties. [04:43.40]This would leave the account alone on the server [04:47.16]with a shrinking group of followers. [04:50.28]But this shared nature of Mastodon [04:54.48]can lead to some issues. [04:56.96]It is generally harder to find people [05:00.24]to follow in Mastodon's unusual system [05:04.04]than the centrally administered offerings of Twitter. [05:08.36]Technical issues can also be more common on Mastodon, [05:13.08]especially now that the service is experiencing fast growth. [05:18.68]The design is also less developed than other services [05:23.84]and some users have noted a more difficult sign-up process. [05:30.08]Content moderation is also a concern to some. T [05:35.24]his is because the process is completely run by server administrators, [05:41.08]who get to decide what users are permitted to post. [05:46.20]Another alternative to Twitter is a service called Cohost, [05:52.20]which promises its users their personal data will never be sold. [05:58.08]Established social networks like Tumblr [06:01.88]and the voice-based service Clubhouse [06:05.36]have also seen recent rises in popularity. [06:09.72]A few other start-ups are also gaining attention, [06:14.24]including Counter Social and Tribel Social. [06:18.60]In addition, there are the right-wing offerings [06:22.52]such as Gab, Parler and Truth Social, [06:26.92]the service launched by former U.S. President Donald Trump. [06:32.48]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM