A Beginner’s Guide to the Mastodon

The social network known as Mastodon is a kind of anti-Twitter: quiet, calm and almost free from Nazis. Lately, people have flocked to it just to get confused about how it works, which is very annoying because it’s not that hard to get started. Here’s how.

Where do I check in?

While Twitter is one huge corporation, Mastodon is more like a bunch of local family stores. This means that you have to choose an “instance” – a server that you call yours. Do not panic! Stay with me here! You can handle it!

It’s like keeping your money at your local bank or credit union, but your money is still good everywhere. You can pay someone or get money in any of hundreds of ways, no matter which bank they use.

So even though I have a mastodon account at wandering.shop , and my fellow Lifehacker writer Nick Douglas has an account at mastodon.social , I can still follow him and he can follow me. Here’s a tool for browsing all the available instances and determining which one works best for you.

If you don’t know what to choose, register at mastodon.cloud . (Until recently, the flagship instance was mastodon.social, but now it seems to be full.) If you like, you can dig for a few days and then switch to another instance as soon as you figure out which would be more fun elsewhere. …

What do I do now when I’m here?

Each instance has a web viewer that will display columns in your home timeline (the people you follow), your notifications, and a third column that you can use for whatever you want.

Just like on Twitter, you can follow people, mention them, and post. But your instance also has two special time frames:

• The local timeline is the stream of everyone tweeting from that instance. So if I click there, I can see everything going on at wandering.shop. It’s like eavesdropping on everyone in your area.
• A federated timeline is anything that’s on the local timeline, as well as anything that someone is following on your instance. So if I follow Nick, his beeps (yes, they are called beeps) appear on the wandering.shop federated timeline.

A few terms to help make your transition from Twitter easier:

• This is not a tweet, this is a beep.
• This is not retweeting, this is overclocking. There is no such thing as a tweet quote, you either boost or you don’t.
• Twitter itself is called the “bird site”. Don’t put the drama of a bird’s eye view on a mastodon.

Okay, I’m ready for a dial tone!

First, this is not Twitter. Each instance has its own administrator and its own code of conduct, so be sure to read it before you start. For example, the mastodon.social code of conduct has the following:

The following content types will be removed from the public timeline, which could result in account suspension and revocation of access to the service:

1. Racism or racist propaganda
2. Sexism or propaganda of sexism
3. Discrimination or advocacy against gender and sexual minorities
4. Xenophobic and / or violent nationalism

The following types of content are expressly prohibited and will result in revocation of access to the service:

1. Sexy images of children
2. Content banned in Germany and / or France, such as Holocaust denial or Nazi symbols.
3. Conducting the propaganda of the ideology of National Socialism.

There is also a content alert function that you can turn on with the CW button when creating a beep. You can use it to alert people of challenging or questionable items on your dial tone, and then they will need to press a button to expand the entire dial tone. The code of conduct may require certain things to be hidden in the CW at all times, such as nudity or blood.

But it’s also used in a different way: it’s perfect for hiding spoilers or for the climax of a joke. People also often use it for things that others might not be interested in. If you are posting something that you think might be boring or annoying to others, just stick it in the CW and it will be easy for people to scroll past. If you want to talk about bird drama, be sure to put it on the CW.

By the way, you can configure the privacy of each dial tone: public, which means it will appear on the local and federated timeline; For subscribers only, which means that only your subscribers will see it; or “not listed”, which is similar to “subscribers only,” but it will also appear on your profile page. Not being listed makes sense if you’re not trying to keep secrecy, but just don’t want it to clutter up your timelines or search results. For more information on privacy, blocking and harassment prevention, read this post by the main developer of Mastodon .

Which app am I using to get a mastodon on my phone?

There is not a single mastodon app, but a few. I love Tootdon for iPhone, especially the feature that allows you to search for instances and place the local timeline of another instance right on the home screen. So I can see what’s going on at wandering.shop, but then swipe to check the fire hose at mastodon.social or lulz at bofa.lol.

Tusky is another popular app, or just ask your friends what they are using. There is also a rundown of Android apps and iPad apps here .

There are other web clients: Halcyon is an exact replica of the Twitter website. Pinafore.social is a bit like Twitter, but importantly, it allows you to log in with multiple accounts, it’s fast and you can use it on mobile if you haven’t already selected your favorite mobile app.

Okay, but do all the cool guys hang out without me?

Probably. To find them, first go to the Find Friends on Twitter feature on joinmastodon.org and see where all the people you already know are hanging out. (I also did a Twitter search for “mastodon” and filtered the results by people I follow.)

Don’t forget that you can preview the local timelines of the instances on their websites or through an app like Tootdon that has this feature. I first joined mastodon.social, then spent a few days going through a bunch of different local timelines until I settled on one that looked more like my home one.

When you’re ready to jump the ship, it’s kind of possible to transfer your account, but it’s not that smooth. Here’s what you do:

• Go to Settings and then Export Data. Here you can download a list of everyone you follow, everyone you blocked, and everyone you disconnected.
• Register an account on a new instance.
• In the new instance go to your settings and then Import. You can download these lists.
• Go back to your old account and edit your profile. There is a link at the bottom to transfer your account. It just lets people know that your account is no longer working. You can also edit your bio and change your name to something like “Beth migrated” for those who might stumble upon your account without realizing that you are gone.

Migration does not save your followers. Anyone who follows you will be left behind your old dead account. Luckily, they’ll all receive a notification when you sign up for them again from a new account, and chances are they’ll follow up. (If anything, a lot of people on Mastodon are following everyone back.)

Why go to all this trouble? Well, the vibe on Mastodon – at least for now – is like old school Twitter or even (hello old folks) Livejournal or IRC. People get to know each other and are more likely to post about their real interests than to share news or discuss politics endlessly. (However, I’m sure there are examples on activism and politics. If that’s your business, go out and subscribe!) It’s just a nice, friendly place.