What to Do Once You're on Mastodon (and what not to do)

You’ve set up your Mastodon account, you’ve found some people to follow. Congratulations!

Now what?

(If you haven’t done this, check out the first post in this series for instructions on how to choose a server, set up your profile, and find people. If you want to find me on Mastodon, you can do so at @skrishna@wandering.shop. Please keep in mind that this post is just a starting place. It’s what I’ve learned from the couple of weeks I’ve been an active user, but there’s a lot more to figure out.

Play around with your profile

Go into Settings, Profile. There’s a lot you can customize here, so spend a few minutes poking around.

The interface (apps and such)

I use the the official iOS app for Mastodon. It’s usable, but not ideal. There are a lot of features missing from it. It hasn’t been updated for awhile, but someone is working on it again so hopefully we’ll see more updates soon. (I haven’t used the Android app and can’t help there, nor can I help with PC.)

edited to add: I downloaded Metatext for iOS and it works much better than the official Mastodon app!

I’m on a Mac (silicon) and I still find the best option is the web interface. If you like using it in the browser, then great! One recommendation I’d make is to go into settings (the gear above your username on the left) , appearance, and check the box that says “Enable advanced web interface.” This gives you Tweetdeck-style columns.

If you like having a standalone app and you’re on a Mac, you can use Fluid (free download) to create a standalone desktop app from the website. That’s what I do. There are a bunch of independent apps, but I haven’t found any that offer all the features of the desktop website.

Switching instances

If you don’t like the instance you originally signed up for (or grabbed whatever was available) you can switch instances! You can do so in Settings, but be warned: your posts won’t move over (but all your followers/following will).

Edit button

It exists, mainly on desktop (the apps I’ve used don’t have it). But it’s there!

Following hashtags

One thing that’s brought me a lot of joy is following hashtags in my main feed. Right now, I follow #startrek and #space, so when anyone uses these hashtags across my instance (and a few others), I see it in my main feed. It really helps for finding fun new people to chat with and follow. To do this, search for the hashtag (if your server is running slowly, sometimes it’s better to just click on the hashtag somewhere versus searching for it — so like, in your intro post for example).

You have to be on a server running the latest updates for Mastodon (which is why I like being on mastodon.social) to be able to follow hashtags on your main feed. You’ll see an icon with a person and a plus sign beside the title (screenshot below). Click the person. (If you don’t see it because you’re not on a server with the latest updates. You just have to wait until your server is updated.)

If you don’t want to follow the hashtag but you want to keep an eye on it, you can also pin the column. Press the button to the right of the person, and then hit “pin.”

Why hashtags are important

I knew hashtags were important on Mastodon but it wasn’t immediately clear to me why. Here’s the deal:

You cannot search for plain text across Mastodon. You can only search for hashtags. It makes discoverability harder, but it’s also a deliberate decision to make sure you invite people in when you’re posting. Basically, people can’t search for text keywords and come find you (and harass you). If you use hashtags, it’s an indication you want to engage on that topic, and people can find you that way.

There’s no algorithm or quote retweet

You might be rejoicing at the fact that there’s no algorithm on Mastodon. You see whatever is out there! Keep in mind though, this means while “likes” are nice, they don’t do anything. If you want to support someone else, boost (or retweet) them. It’s the best way to find people.

Also quote retweets don’t exist. It’s a deliberate design choice by the admins. (I’m not commenting on whether that’s good or bad, I miss them but understand the decision.)

There’s no quality filter and moderation is up to your admin

For the most part, a lack of an algorithm on Mastodon is a good thing. But that also means there’s no quality filter. You see everything people send you. The good news is you can still mute, block, report, and even ban entire servers (if a server allows racism or harassment, and the one you are on doesn’t). But the fact is, this is going to be a thing that Mastodon will have to reckon with as it gets bigger. We’ll see what happens.

As a note, mastodon.social has an active admin who does not allow alt-right content and defederates (or blocks) servers that do. Another reason I like this server! Make sure the server you’re on has an active admin.

Norms on Mastodon are different

One thing to remember is that Mastodon has its own culture, and those of us who are coming in are doing that — coming into an already established place. That means abiding by the norms the community has already put into place.

Use content warnings

Content warning use on Mastodon is very different than anywhere else I’ve seen. It’s not necessarily focused on trauma or triggers (though there is that as well). Content warnings are basically used on anything that would cause a person to doom scroll.

Edited to add: It should be noted that there’s been discussions about putting content warnings on racism. That’s not great. This is exactly what I meant when I said Mastodon isn’t a Twitter replacement. The culture is great in some respects, but it does need to evolve to include people of color.

Use alt text

Alt text on your images isn’t just an afterthought here. Use it liberally!

Toss a coin to your witcher

Mastodon isn’t some big social media corporation. It’s volunteer run. If you decide to stick around, how about pledging to their Patreon?

Verification (of a sort)

If you’re a creator with your own website and want to verify you are who you say you are, there’s a way to do that (sort of). Go to Settings then Profile. Make sure your website link is in one of the boxes to the left of the box that says Verification.

Copy the code in the verification box and add it as HTML to your website. (If you’re on Squarespace, you can insert HTML by adding a Markdown box. Please, don’t ask me how to do it on other platforms. Trust me when I say I don’t know. If you aren’t sure, you probably didn’t build your own website so contact the person who designed your website for you.)

You’ll get a little verification box pretty immediately after adding it. It’s small, but it’s a way to verify you are who you say you are.

Crossposting between Twitter and Mastodon

Yes, you can crosspost, but be careful. One thing that’s really important on Mastodon is maintaining an authentic presence. People will unfollow you if you don’t. In fact, it might be worth it to crosspost from Mastodon to Twitter instead of the other way around.

The best tool to do this is the Crossposter. I highly recommend customizing what you crosspost — no replies, no retweets/boosts, and use the keywords to filter out anything that wouldn’t work on both platforms (Twitter and Mastodon are good keywords to start with.) Play with this, see if it works for you, but to find people on Mastodon you have to interact with them.

How to Set Up a Mastodon Account (and what to know before you do)

So….you want to set up a Mastodon account? It makes sense, given everything that’s going on with the bird app right now. But the main thing to remember as you’re deciding whether or not to do this, and trying to figure out whether Mastodon is a good place for you, is that it is not a Twitter replacement.

Twitter gained traction because it’s simple and easy to use. Mastodon isn’t necessarily. It has a learning curve and it takes some work to understand the ins and outs of how it works. It’s also decentralized or federated which means that there isn’t one company or person in charge of the entire thing. It’s built as a set of protocols, not first and foremost as a social network. This means many different platforms can interact with it (which is good!) but it’s more complicated (which can be good and bad, depending.)

You don’t have to understand (or care about) everything I just said, but you do have to put some time in to figure out how Mastodon works. If you aren’t willing to take the time and would rather just complain about it on Twitter, then that’s totally fine. No one is forcing you to migrate to another app! If you’re invested in community, though, it’s worth it. I’ve found my experience at Mastodon so far to be great. I’m not leaving Twitter, and in fact, I think I’ll probably maintain both sites. I find they’re good for different things. (You can find me at @skrishna@mastodon.social — more on what all of that means later).

Keep in mind that I am not an expert. I just started using Mastodon a couple of weeks ago in earnest, but I’ve learned a lot in that time.

Who Mastodon will work for (and who it probably won’t)

Before you set up your Mastodon account, it’s worth thinking about what you use Twitter for.

• Do you use it for community and to interact with people , whether for fun or networking in your field?

• Do you use it for self-promo?

• Do you use it because your employer says you have to?

• Do you use it because you feel like you need to have a platform as a freelancer, writer, or content creator?

• Do you use it to find breaking news?

Honestly, if you don’t enjoy using Twitter for community, then Mastodon will probably not work for you. It’s not designed to build a platform. Instead, it’s about engaging with and talking to people. If you primarily use Twitter as a promo tool, to tweet links and such, Mastodon probably isn’t going to be worth it. If you’re on Twitter because you have to be and you hate it, I don’t think Mastodon is the answer. However, if you’re like me and just really enjoy talking to people about the things you’re nerdy about, then it will work better for you (provided you can figure it out).

Edited to add: I don’t think Mastodon is great for finding breaking news, and I don’t know that it ever will be. Plenty of journalists have migrated over there, but without an algorithm to surface breaking news (one of the benefits of Mastodon is supposed to be no algorithm) and verification (beyond what they offer via a website — more on that later), I don’t see it being overly useful to follow the news. That being said, if you want to see what people are saying in a particular field — say astronomy —I’ve found it great.

How Mastodon is organized (and how to pick a server)

Here’s the part where people get really confused: How is Mastodon organized? Twitter is centralized, which means everyone is on the same server. Searching for a hashtag, keyword, or account, means that you’re searching across all of Twitter at once. You can see everything that’s available.

Mastodon is different. It’s decentralized. Think about it this way (any tech people will probably rip this analogy apart, but this isn’t directed at tech people!): You’re a member of a single home Slack. But you can follow people (and search, to a limited extent) across different Slacks and their posts will show up in your home Slack.

Edited to add: You can’t actually follow people across Slacks. I am just using this as an example.

That means when you first sign up, you have to choose your instance (or home server). That’s where people get turned off, because if you’re going in with no information, you have no idea how to even choose.

People will say your home server “doesn’t matter,” and they’re right to a point. I’d argue that it does matter a lot, because your server admin will determine what is allowed on the server (abuse, harassment, etc.) But also I’m a person who just needs concrete instructions on how to do a thing. It doesn’t matter if it “doesn’t matter,” I still find it confusing until people tell me “this is how you do it” — so here’s how to do it.

If you have no idea what server to choose, I recommend one of the big ones. Each instance is dependent on its admins, and if you join one with an absent admin, your experience will suffer. That said, I’ve seen a lot of people joining smaller servers based on their interests. Ask around in your community to see which ones people are joining.

Here are the servers I’ve seen a lot of people on:

• mastodon.social

• mstdn.social

• scicomm.xyz (science communicators)

• tenforward.social (Star Trek)

• astrodon.social (astronomy)

• mastodon.art

I’m on mastodon.social, which is the biggest and it’s official. I like it because it gets the newest features the soonest. The downside is that most people are joining this server, and it’s a bit overloaded. It can be slow, image uploads can stall, searching can be buggy. But the server admin is responsive and keeping an eye on loads, so things always even out. A lot of the bigger servers are currently invite only because of these lags, but you can always DM me on Twitter to get an invite.

Edit: I’m now on wandering.shop, (@skrishna@wandering.shop), which is a closed server. I think mastodon.social was a great place to start out, but now that I have a larger following, I like being on a more closely moderated server.

Ok, I set up my account. Now what?

If you’ve set up your Mastodon account, then you’re going to see a whole lot of nothing in your home feed. That’s okay, but here’s where the real work comes in. You have to build your feed. That involves following a lot of people.

My username on Mastodon is @skrishna@mastodon.social, and you need all that information to follow other people. If you’re trying to follow the people you know, do not go to their profile link (which for me would be http://mastodon.social/@skrishna). When you log into Mastodon (which you do through your specific server link — there’s not a unified URL like mastodon.com. If you joined scicomm.xyz, your server link is http://scicomm.xyz, for example).

First things first: add a profile image and fill out your bio. Once you do that, and people can see who you are, write an #introduction post. Use hashtags like it’s your job — it’s the main discoverability tool for Mastodon. Pin it to the top of your feed. (Here’s my introduction post, for reference.)

Now it’s time to find others to follow.

This is where search comes in. Start searching for the usernames of people you know. If you don’t know anyone, search for (1) hashtags of things you like (#startrek, #scicomm, #space, and #astronomy are big ones for me) and (2) #introduction. Then…start following people. You can always unfollow them later.

(This is important: don’t go to someone’s URL to follow them because if you’re not on the same server you won’t be able to. Find their username through search when you’re logged into YOUR server.)

Once you follow some people you like, go and see who they are following and then follow those people! Mastodon can seem like an overwhelming wasteland until you actually have an active feed. When you find cool people to follow, boost their introduction posts! Liking their posts is great, but remember, there’s no algorithm here so that won’t help them be seen.

There are many tools popping up to find your Twitter people on Mastodon. I’m not going to link them all because I haven’t tried them, but what I have found effective is searching on twitter for “Mastodon,” and then restricting results to “people you follow.”

Also keep in mind that pretty much all servers are overwhelmed with the Twitter migration (#TwitterMigration, if you want to see who’s coming over) and things will run slowly. It will get better!

If you’re wondering how to use Mastodon once you’re on there, here’s the post on that (the culture on Mastodon is different — alt text and content warnings are the default). And there are definitely some pitfalls: no algorithm is great, but it also means no quality filter. And no quote tweeting! I’ll get into all that later.

But I hope this is a helpful primer for the first steps.