Is Mastodon doomed to extinction?

The interest-focused platform is the new social media darling, but can it hold on for the long term? Marketers could make the difference—and find a new channel for engaging consumers.

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There is much hyperventilating over Mastodon, the upstart social network du jour.

It’s easy to drop it into the same bucket as all the other presumed Twitter killers moldering in their digital graves, which is exactly what a lot of people are doing. Without even giving it a once-over, they remind their followers of Ello, Plurk, Jaiku and the long list of other social media hopefuls. Let’s not even start picking through the trash heap of Google’s various attempts.

I’m not ready to proclaim Mastodon a keeper. Odds are good that in five years, when the next startup hits the scene, the doubters will ask us to remember Ello, Plurk, Jaiku and Mastodon before getting amped up about the New Big Thing.

There’s something tugging at the back of my mind, though, insisting that Mastodon might, just maybe, find its place in the constellation of social networks.

What (besides a terrible name) is Mastodon?

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