If you are a person who enjoys sharing your interests, you’ll do fine on Mastodon, and I suggest you should join. Like right now. Do it.
That’s my pitch. Mastodon is a place for people to connect without the influence of algorithms to support billionaires’ financial interests or the late-stage capitalist ad market.
I highly doubt I would be participating in Blaugust if I hadn’t jumped to Mastodon last year.
Sound good? Let’s make it easy for you to join, too.
Time to Toot
I moved to Mastodon in November, a week after the Musk takeover of Twitter. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it immediately became my new home. I had no guidance on choosing a server, so it took a few tries to land on one I enjoyed.
Guess what? This is perfectly normal. It would be best to consider Mastodon as a bunch of different clubs that come together socially. Mastodon is part of ActivityPub, a software that allows other servers to interact—an ACTUAL SOCIAL NETWORK.
Break the habit of thinking one company needs to own all the connections of an app. There is power in many different services connecting across a network.
Joining the Party
Sign-up isn’t easy if you’re expecting it to be one place where everyone is. Remember, this is a bunch of different areas, all talking to each other. Your server choice is the first decision you must make- which isn’t permanent. If you don’t like your server, you can move later on.
Yay! Freedom!
When selecting a server, take some time to search through the options. You can move later if you find something more your speed once you join.
I began on Mastodon.social, the largest and the default at the time. A few hours after joining, I moved to mstdn.ca. I left that and finally settled on masto.ai, and it has been great. However, you get to decide where you land, which is the best. Many of the Blaugust community are on gamepad.club. Many people I follow are on mstdn.games. This is to say, there is no right place to be, only what feels best for you.
Best Practices
Here are a few things to keep in mind after joining.
- Take a moment to read https://fedi.tips
- Direct Messages are not secure. Please do not say anything in them you wouldn’t want to be public.
- Hashtags are your friend. Follow them. Use them. Capitalize each word in them.
- You will miss things. That is the point.
- For accounts you don’t want to miss, click the bell in the profile or make a list.
- Boost the toots!
- Be here to make connections and have conversations.
- Promoting yourself and your work is fine. Don’t let others tell you differently.
- No algorithm means post what you want.
- Add alt-text to all images.
Additionally, server costs are usually crowd-funded or user-supported. There is no requirement to donate or pay on most servers, but if you enjoy your experience, it is always a kind gesture to tip your admin.
Give it a Chance
You will get much more out of your experience if you show up with all your interests. There is no need to curate your persona for an algorithm. It is much easier to share everything you enjoy and connect with new people you may have never met because you were concerned about how the post might perform.
Please take your time. Breathe for a moment. Mastodon is not like the other for-profit places. Acclimatize yourself. Ask questions. Heck, ask me questions. Take a moment to watch, read, and process the new environment. Leave the habits of the old place behind and enjoy a fresh start.
I hope to see you there.