2022年11月10日 VOA慢速英语：关注 Twitter 的用户寻求替代服务

Twitter has already seen a drop in users since American billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media service last month.
自美国亿万富翁埃隆马斯克上个月购买社交媒体服务以来，Twitter 的用户数量已经下降。
 
Some users and experts have expressed concerns about Musk's stated plans to limit existing restrictions on user content. Musk has said his goal is to protect the free speech of Twitter users. But critics say his plan could increase the amount of harmful content and hate speech appearing on the service.
一些用户和专家对马斯克表示限制现有用户内容限制的计划表示担忧。马斯克曾表示，他的目标是保护 Twitter 用户的言论自由。但批评人士表示，他的计划可能会增加该服务上出现的有害内容和仇恨言论的数量。
 
Musk also announced plans to start charging Twitter users $8 a month to keep a verified account.
马斯克还宣布计划开始向 Twitter 用户收取每月 8 美元的费用，以保留经过验证的帐户。
 
How many people have left Twitter?
有多少人离开了推特？
 
Bot Sentinel is a company that looks for inauthentic behavior on Twitter. It recently estimated the service saw 877,000 accounts deactivated between October 27 and November 1. In addition, Bot Sentinel said it identified about 497,000 accounts that had been suspended during the same period. The company's findings were reported by MIT Technology Review.
Bot Sentinel 是一家在 Twitter 上寻找不真实行为的公司。它最近估计，在 10 月 27 日至 11 月 1 日期间，该服务有 877,000 个帐户被停用。此外，Bot Sentinel 表示，它发现了大约 497,000 个帐户在同一时期被暂停。该公司的调查结果由MIT Technology Review报道。
 
"We believe the (rise) in deactivations is the result of people upset with Elon Musk purchasing Twitter and deciding to deactivate their accounts in protest," Bot Sentinel chief Christopher Bouzy told the publication.
Bot Sentinel 负责人克里斯托弗·布齐（Christopher Bouzy）告诉该出版物：“我们认为，停用的（上升）是人们对埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）购买 Twitter 并决定停用他们的账户以示抗议感到不满的结果。”
 
Musk himself tweeted that "Twitter user numbers have increased significantly around the world since the deal was announced." Musk did not provide exact numbers to support his claim.
马斯克本人在推特上写道：“自交易宣布以来，全球Twitter 用户数量显着增加。” 马斯克没有提供确切的数字来支持他的说法。
 
Even if Twitter did lose nearly a million users after Musk's takeover, the social media service still remains huge. The company said earlier this year it had more than 238 million active daily users.
即使在马斯克被收购后 Twitter 确实失去了近 100 万用户，但社交媒体服务仍然庞大。该公司今年早些时候表示，其每日活跃用户超过 2.38 亿。
 
What alternatives to Twitter exist?
Twitter 有哪些替代品？
 
One of the main alternatives to Twitter is a service called Mastodon. It was created by German developer Eugen Rochko in 2016. Mastodon looks like and operates very similarly to Twitter. It lets users post short messages and other content. The service does not have advertisements.
Twitter的主要替代品之一是名为 Mastodon 的服务。它由德国开发者 Eugen Rochko 于 2016 年创建。Mastodon 的外观和操作与 Twitter 非常相似。它允许用户发布短消息和其他内容。该服务没有广告。
 
But Mastodon is very different from Twitter because it uses a decentralized system. Each user must sign up to an independently operated server. The servers are largely run by volunteer administrators who link their systems together.
但是 Mastodon 与 Twitter 非常不同，因为它使用了一个去中心化的系统。每个用户都必须注册到独立运营的服务器。这些服务器主要由将他们的系统链接在一起的志愿者管理员运行。
 
Rochko has said one goal of Mastodon is to provide the public with a social media network that does not depend on a centralized organization, like Twitter and Facebook do. The service is also designed to provide more privacy protections.
Rochko 曾表示，Mastodon 的一个目标是为公众提供一个不依赖于中心化组织的社交媒体网络，如 Twitter 和 Facebook。该服务还旨在提供更多的隐私保护。
 
In a message posted on the service earlier this week, Rochko said Mastodon had reached more than 1 million active users in the days after Musk bought Twitter.
在本周早些时候发布在该服务上的一条消息中，罗奇科表示，在马斯克收购 Twitter 后的几天内，Mastodon 的活跃用户已超过 100 万。
 
Ethan Zuckerman is a social media expert at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He wrote in a message last week, "I've gotten more new followers on Mastodon in the last week than I have in the previous five years."
Ethan Zuckerman 是马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的社交媒体专家。他上周在一条消息中写道，“上周我在 Mastodon 上获得的新粉丝比过去五年多。”
 
Supporters of Mastodon note that no single company or person can force their will on the whole system or shut it all down. For example, they say if an extremist voice appeared on a particular server, it would be easy enough for other servers to cut ties. This would leave the account alone on the server with a shrinking group of followers.
Mastodon 的支持者指出，没有任何一家公司或个人可以将他们的意志强加于整个系统或将其全部关闭。例如，他们说，如果某个服务器上出现极端主义声音，其他服务器很容易断绝关系。这将使该帐户独自留在服务器上，而追随者的人数正在减少。
 
But this shared nature of Mastodon can lead to some issues. It is generally harder to find people to follow in Mastodon's unusual system than the centrally administered offerings of Twitter.
但是，Mastodon 的这种共同性质可能会导致一些问题。在 Mastodon 的不同寻常的系统中，通常比集中管理的 Twitter 更难找到人们关注。
 
Technical issues can also be more common on Mastodon, especially now that the service is experiencing fast growth. The design is also less developed than other services and some users have noted a more difficult sign-up process.
技术问题在 Mastodon 上也更为常见，尤其是现在该服务正在快速增长。该设计也没有其他服务那么发达，一些用户注意到注册过程更加困难。
 
Content moderation is also a concern to some. This is because the process is completely run by server administrators, who get to decide what users are permitted to post.
内容审核也是一些人关心的问题。这是因为该过程完全由服务器管理员运行，他们可以决定允许用户发布哪些内容。
 
Another alternative to Twitter is a service called Cohost, which promises its users their personal data will never be sold.
Twitter 的另一个替代方案是一项名为Cohost的服务，该服务向其用户承诺他们的个人数据永远不会被出售。
 
Established social networks like Tumblr and the voice-based service Clubhouse have also seen recent rises in popularity.
Tumblr等成熟的社交网络和基于语音的服务Clubhouse最近也越来越受欢迎。
 
A few other start-ups are also gaining attention, including Counter Social and Tribel Social. In addition, there are the right-wing offerings such as Gab, Parler and Truth Social, the service launched by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
其他一些初创公司也受到关注，包括Counter Social和Tribel Social。此外，还有美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普推出的服务Gab、Parler和Truth Social等右翼产品。