2022年11月10日 VOA慢速英語(yǔ)：關(guān)注 Twitter 的用戶尋求替代服務(wù)

Twitter has already seen a drop in users since American billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media service last month.
自美國(guó)億萬(wàn)富翁埃隆馬斯克上個(gè)月購(gòu)買社交媒體服務(wù)以來(lái)，Twitter 的用戶數(shù)量已經(jīng)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.
一些用戶和專家對(duì)馬斯克表示限制現(xiàn)有用戶內(nèi)容限制的計(jì)劃表示擔(dān)憂。馬斯克曾表示，他的目標(biāo)是保護(hù) Twitter 用戶的言論自由。但批評(píng)人士表示，他的計(jì)劃可能會(huì)增加該服務(wù)上出現(xiàn)的有害內(nèi)容和仇恨言論的數(shù)量。
 
Musk also announced plans to start charging Twitter users $8 a month to keep a verified account.
馬斯克還宣布計(jì)劃開(kāi)始向 Twitter 用戶收取每月 8 美元的費(fèi)用，以保留經(jīng)過(guò)驗(yàn)證的帳戶。
 
How many people have left Twitter?
有多少人離開(kāi)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 上尋找不真實(shí)行為的公司。它最近估計(jì)，在 10 月 27 日至 11 月 1 日期間，該服務(wù)有 877,000 個(gè)帳戶被停用。此外，Bot Sentinel 表示，它發(fā)現(xiàn)了大約 497,000 個(gè)帳戶在同一時(shí)期被暫停。該公司的調(diào)查結(jié)果由MIT Technology Review報(bào)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 負(fù)責(zé)人克里斯托弗·布齊（Christopher Bouzy）告訴該出版物：“我們認(rèn)為，停用的（上升）是人們對(duì)埃隆·馬斯克（Elon Musk）購(gòu)買 Twitter 并決定停用他們的賬戶以示抗議感到不滿的結(jié)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.
馬斯克本人在推特上寫(xiě)道：“自交易宣布以來(lái)，全球Twitter 用戶數(shù)量顯著增加。” 馬斯克沒(méi)有提供確切的數(shù)字來(lái)支持他的說(shuō)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.
即使在馬斯克被收購(gòu)后 Twitter 確實(shí)失去了近 100 萬(wàn)用戶，但社交媒體服務(wù)仍然龐大。該公司今年早些時(shí)候表示，其每日活躍用戶超過(guò) 2.38 億。
 
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為 Mastodon 的服務(wù)。它由德國(guó)開(kāi)發(fā)者 Eugen Rochko 于 2016 年創(chuàng)建。Mastodon 的外觀和操作與 Twitter 非常相似。它允許用戶發(fā)布短消息和其他內(nèi)容。該服務(wù)沒(méi)有廣告。
 
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 與 Twitter 非常不同，因?yàn)樗褂昧艘粋€(gè)去中心化的系統(tǒng)。每個(gè)用戶都必須注冊(cè)到獨(dú)立運(yùn)營(yíng)的服務(wù)器。這些服務(wù)器主要由將他們的系統(tǒng)鏈接在一起的志愿者管理員運(yùn)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 的一個(gè)目標(biāo)是為公眾提供一個(gè)不依賴于中心化組織的社交媒體網(wǎng)絡(luò)，如 Twitter 和 Facebook。該服務(wù)還旨在提供更多的隱私保護(hù)。
 
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.
在本周早些時(shí)候發(fā)布在該服務(wù)上的一條消息中，羅奇科表示，在馬斯克收購(gòu) Twitter 后的幾天內(nèi)，Mastodon 的活躍用戶已超過(guò) 100 萬(wàn)。
 
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 是馬薩諸塞大學(xué)阿默斯特分校的社交媒體專家。他上周在一條消息中寫(xiě)道，“上周我在 Mastodon 上獲得的新粉絲比過(guò)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，沒(méi)有任何一家公司或個(gè)人可以將他們的意志強(qiáng)加于整個(gè)系統(tǒng)或?qū)⑵淙筷P(guān)閉。例如，他們說(shuō)，如果某個(gè)服務(wù)器上出現(xiàn)極端主義聲音，其他服務(wù)器很容易斷絕關(guān)系。這將使該帳戶獨(dú)自留在服務(wù)器上，而追隨者的人數(shù)正在減少。
 
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 的這種共同性質(zhì)可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致一些問(wèn)題。在 Mastodon 的不同尋常的系統(tǒng)中，通常比集中管理的 Twitter 更難找到人們關(guān)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.
技術(shù)問(wèn)題在 Mastodon 上也更為常見(jiàn)，尤其是現(xiàn)在該服務(wù)正在快速增長(zhǎng)。該設(shè)計(jì)也沒(méi)有其他服務(wù)那么發(fā)達(dá)，一些用戶注意到注冊(cè)過(guò)程更加困難。
 
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.
內(nèi)容審核也是一些人關(guān)心的問(wèn)題。這是因?yàn)樵撨^(guò)程完全由服務(wù)器管理員運(yùn)行，他們可以決定允許用戶發(fā)布哪些內(nèi)容。
 
Another alternative to Twitter is a service called Cohost, which promises its users their personal data will never be sold.
Twitter 的另一個(gè)替代方案是一項(xiàng)名為Cohost的服務(wù)，該服務(wù)向其用戶承諾他們的個(gè)人數(shù)據(jù)永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)被出售。
 
Established social networks like Tumblr and the voice-based service Clubhouse have also seen recent rises in popularity.
Tumblr等成熟的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)和基于語(yǔ)音的服務(wù)Clubhouse最近也越來(lái)越受歡迎。
 
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.
其他一些初創(chuàng)公司也受到關(guān)注，包括Counter Social和Tribel Social。此外，還有美國(guó)前總統(tǒng)唐納德·特朗普推出的服務(wù)Gab、Parler和Truth Social等右翼產(chǎn)品。