What is Mastodon, the social network users are leaving Twitter for? Everything you need to know

Whichever Mastodon server(s) you sign up for, however, you can follow users on a different one with no problem.

Oh, and as this is a volunteer-run system, there are no paid-for ads in your feed.

There are apps on iOS and Android which allow you to sign into your Mastodon account(s).

You could start searching for those you know, or go back to Twitter and see if they have announced their move. Services like Twitodon allow you to log in with both your Twitter and Mastodon accounts and scan to look for users you follow. But it will only be able to find those users who have also used Twitodon.

Once you follow a few people you have found from Twitter, you could go through their lists to find others you might know.

If you link to a website you control on your profile, then it can recognise you as the owner of that website, which will give followers some justification in trusting you are who you claim to be.