Want to ditch Twitter? Here are the top alternatives

Twitter is in hot water in India. First reports detailed that Delhi Police’s special cell had carried out a series of searches at Twitter India’s Delhi and Gurugram offices in connection with an inquiry into a complaint regarding an alleged Covid-19 toolkit and deeming a related post by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as ‘manipulative’.

Then reports detailed that social media platforms in India, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, could be banned in India for not complying with the government’s new IT rules.

The recent turn of events has created a mood of uncertainty among the netizens. Trends such as #WelldoneDelhiPolice, Good Bye, Farewell, #banned and Indian Government have also started gaining momentum on the microblogging platform.

ALSO READ: Relax! Twitter and Facebook will not stop working tomorrow due to the new IT rules: Here's what experts think

Whether you are planning to ditch Twitter or explore new platforms, here are top Twitter alternatives that need to try out:

Koo

Koo was launched last year in March as an Indian alternative to Twitter. However, it shot to fame after Twitter clashed with the Indian government over the removal of certain posts. The platform recently announced that it had raised $10 million in funding so far. It also changed its logo and added new features to its platform recently.

Mastodon

Mastodon is the decentralized alternative to Twitter. It consists of ‘Nodes’ called instances that are hosted in servers across the globe. Each instance has its own terms of service, privacy policy, and code of conduct. Every user is a part of a specific instance, which they can pick as per their interests and policies, and ruleset.

Tooter

It is another Indian alternative to Twitter. It’s a forked version of the Mastodon project. The company describes itself as a part of ‘Swadeshi Andolan 2.0.’ “We believe that India should have a Swadeshi social network. Without one we are just a digital colony of the American Twitter India Company, no different than what we were under the British East India Company. Tooter is our Swadeshi Andolan 2.0,” the company says in its About section. It is similar to Twitter in terms of functionality. It has a timeline where users can post their opinions. Users can also like posts and repost them on the platform.

Plurk

Plurk is another micro-blogging platform that you can try out. It was launched back in 2008. Its interface is a mix of Facebook and Twitter. You can see other people’s timelines and comment on their posts. People earn Karma, which is based on their activity. Users can post texts with up to 210 characters. They can also chat in groups and send messages to other users in real-time.