Considering leaving Twitter? Check out these micro-blogging sites

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With Elon Musk taking over the famous microblogging social media platform Twitter, a lot has changed. Mass firing of employees and a constantly changing policy about verified accounts are some of the reasons why people might fly the nest. And of course, there are Musk's insufferable tweets to bear as well. Check these options out.

Tribel

Owned by American political activists, Tribel is one of the closest alternatives to Twitter. The only difference? It is said to be left-leaning. The developers have positioned themselves as a "grassroot social network" that is "free of hatred and fake news." Users customise their news feed by selecting the topics, and also select a target audience. It is available on Android and iOS.

Plurk

Plurk, a free social media and micro blogging service, was launched in 2008 and is headquartered in Taiwan. A ‘plurk' can be up to 360 text characters in length, and the updates show up on the user's timeline in chronological order. Plurk's unique feature is that one scrolls through the timeline horizontally. It is a website-based platform that speaks 45 languages, and there's an app for Android and iOS.

Bluesky

Former Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey thought of Bluesky in 2019. The project originated with Twitter, but has established itself as an independent platform now. They say they are working on building a "new foundation for social networking which gives creators independence from platforms, developers the freedom to build and users a choice in their experience." A month ago, in October, they launched their waiting list for the beta version.

Parler

Parler is an American alt-tech social networking platform, catering to conservatives. Launched in 2018, it was heralded as a free speech-focused and unbiased alternative to Twitter and Facebook, and its users include those banned from mainstream social networks. American rapper Kanye West is said to have acquired it. Parler's features are similar to Twitter - users can like, reply, and share posts. It is available on Android and iOS.

Mastodon

Although around since 2016, a more stable version of Mastodon was released earlier this year. It is a free and open-source software for running self-hosted social networking sites. It has microblogging features similar to Twitter. Besides being able to post, there are hashtags which count the number of people who have used it in the past few days. There's also a separate section for news. The Mastodon app is Android and iOS compliant.