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In the wake of the five alarm fire at Twitter, a small, quiet social media alternative has been quietly attracting the tweeting weary. Mastodon, named for the prehistoric elephant relatives, was originally created by a German programmer named Eugen Rochko in 2016. And even though it shares similarities to its blue bird peer,\\xa0the two platforms possess many\\xa0differences. For one, Mastodon is organized by groups called "servers" or "instances," there\'s no universal experience like on Twitter. It\'s also completely decentralized\\xa0\\u2014\\xa0each server is run by individuals or small groups\\xa0\\u2014 with\\xa0no overseeing company.\\xa0But is it here to stay? This week, Brooke sits down with Clive Thompson, a tech journalist\\xa0and author of the book Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World,\\xa0to talk about why people like Mastodon, who it\'s for, and why we should watch its latest evolution.

You can find Clive Thompson on Mastodon at\\xa0@clive@saturation.social and OTM by searching @onthemedia@journa.host.