@taylorlorenz Basically, "having a small Twitter or Facebook". Most of these do not have ads, manipulative algorithms, or hidden agendas.
Like a any web application, tech savvy people are in charge of hosting it, but its easier nowadays.
Being decentralized like a spider web, you can still interact with people from other Mastodon servers, or even people from Threads. That's "The Fediverse".
Some may focus on particular interests or groups, making it easier to interact with other people.