Toni Dimaano Tech 12.12.2022 03:Dec AM EST

Vivaldi Integrates Twitter Alternative Mastodon Into Its Desktop Browser

Vivaldi is backing Mastodon in its browser as part of its productivity, enhancing updates, which claims to be a key component to decentralizing social networking.

With this, Engadget writes that Vivaldi became the first browser to integrate its own Mastodon "instance" called Vivaldi Social since Elon Musk took over Twitter.

Mastodon Aims To Decentralize Its Social Networking Services

Many Twitter users are torn on whether to stay on Twitter or to go elsewhere after Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the platform.

Because of this, Vivaldi decides to launch Mastodon, and to integrate support for it directly into the latest version 5.6 of its browser.

The integration of the platform, which will appear on the sidebar of a desktop browser, will give users an easy way to view posts from accounts like Twitter.

The alternative is similar to Twitter in a way that it makes posts short, but unlike Musk's social network that is single entity-run, Mastodon runs on open-source protocol.

This means that users can create and run their own servers called instances, that other people can join just like Vivaldi Social.

According to PC World, Mastodon instances come with their own set of rules to put in place, and a feature that lets users talk with each other through the ActivityPub network.

Additionally, users can join the platform by signing up on the Vivaldi Social side panel, and once they are in, they can follow one another, even those from other servers.

Tech Radar reports that besides this, Vivaldi also tweaked a few core features like pinning tabs to the bar and enabling quick access to multiple commonly used web pages.

Vivaldi 5.6 also comes with a more improved Settings menu that has been updated with a new and more user-friendly interface to make navigation more convenient.

A search engine called You.com, which is an optional supported search engine the company offers, has also been added for safer private searching.

Vivaldi's Mastodon Integration Comes With A Lot Of Promise

Vivaldi promises that the platform will be independent and free of external investors to cater to modern-day needs in a privacy-focused society.

According to co-founder Jon von Tetzchner, Mastodon and Vivaldi are a natural pairing since both are community-driven and are controlled by users instead of corporations.

With this, the partnership pledges to embrace open standards while renouncing user profiling and advertising that are common on other platforms.

Additionally, this Vivaldi integration is proof that alliances between open platforms in this age are continuously strengthening.

The Next Web writes that Vivaldi Social and Mastodon still have a long way to go in competing with tech giants like Twitter.

However, the collaboration between the two amid the controversy Musk's social network is facing makes it more compelling to the wider public to go for alternatives.

Vivaldi hopes that through this, the browser can attract more users as the comp[any has only 2.4 million active users compared to Chrome's 3.3 billion.

With that, von Tetzchner believes that the integration can not come at a better time as Vivaldi can help Mastodon grow and vice versa if people choose to use Mastodon from the Vivaldi browser.