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Getting started on Mastodon

Tip

If you don't have a Mastodon account yet, please sign up to one

If you already have a Mastodon account on another server, please see How do I move my existing account to your server?

If you're coming from Twitter, check out the Twitter and Mastodon similarities and differences too.

New folks, you’re probably feeling disoriented & even annoyed by this place. That’s normal! Here are some tips to help it feel homier.

First steps

  • Fill out your profile ASAP. Add a pic (it doesn’t have to be your face). Tell us who you are. This will help you make friends.
  • Post an intro. Hashtags work here & will help people find you based on your interests. Set it to Public visibility & pin it to your profile.
  • #nypĂĄmastodon is a popular hashtag in the Danish Mastodon community
  • Ask questions in Public mode. People here love to help
  • Your home timeline will feel barren until you follow people. There’s no algorithmic content pushing here. Discovery is on you.
  • Explore your local” timeline. It shows public posts from your server and your neighbors.
  • Web interface: The 3 heads icon in the menu.
  • Mastodon app: The community tab.
  • If you see someone cool, follow them. There are no follow ratios to maintain here. Follow people back. (Check out their profile first.)
  • Search hashtags to find people posting about shared interests.
  • Once you’ve followed a few folks, you’ll start to see them on your home feed, often boosting other interesting people! This is how I find most of my followers.
  • Don’t be afraid to boost posts you appreciate or jump in & reply.
  • If your home timeline still feels slow, visit the federated” timeline. This can be a firehose. It shows posts from everyone in your server AND everyone followed by people in your server. You never know what you’re going to get!

Hat tip to Erin Fulmer for this list of suggestions!

Secure your account

Like on Twitter, you can enable 2-factor authentication (2FA) to ensure your account is significantly better protected from people accessing your account.

You can enable and manage this under Two-factor Auth in the profile settings.

How do I find people I used to follow on Twitter?

I can recommend 2 services for finding your old Twitter followers.

Both websites create a text file with a list of the Mastodon username of the people you followed on Twitter, which you then download and import via your profile settings.

After a minute or two, you should automatically follow everyone that the tools detected.

I use both every day or two and frequently find new people moving. So make sure to check them at least once a week.

How can my Twitter followers find me on Mastodon?

The established best practice for making your new Mastodon account discoverable by your Twitter followers is to add your Mastodon handle (ex. @jippi@expressional.social) to your Twitter Bio.

Both https://twitodon.com/ and https://fedifinder.glitch.me/ uses this information to link your Twitter and Mastodon profile together, thus making them discoverable.

Mobile apps

iOS app

The official iOS app{target=blank" is _okay, but still has a lot of rough edges, but it's free.

I personally use Toot! - which is a paid app. It cost $4 (~30 kr.) It's not perfect, but it's much more capable than the free iOS app.

If you have experience with a specific app I should highlight here, please let me know :)

Android app

I don't use Android, but there is an official Android app that is free

This article list some alternative Android app options.

If you have experience with a specific app I should highlight here, please let me know :)

Next steps

Success

Great, you're now fully set up for your Mastodon journey! Head over to the Pro Tips section for some more advanced Mastodon tips and tricks.