An easy primer

(i.e. it's not that difficult)

(last updated: Mar 13, 2023)

Mastodon isn't a single entity. It's a set of 'rules' for social media.

• These rules (or protocols) are open source. No one person/company can own Mastodon.
• Basically all servers and users on Mastodon work together using these shared rules in something called the ‘Fediverse’.

Servers are your home in the Fediverse.

• Try to pick one that reflects your interests the most, but it’s not difficult to change servers later.
• Plus you can follow anyone on any other server too.

https://fedi.directory is one place to start looking for servers.

• It’s actually beneficial to follow smaller servers.
• This distributes the workload better, plus reduces the influence of any one entity in the Fediverse.

You can access any server using a website address of the format, e.g. https://mstdn.ca, in a web browser.

• The About link of any server should tell you its rules, and what its purpose is.
• When you find the server you like, just click on ‘Create Account’.
• For example, I’m using @mstdn.ca because it has a good admin living in my city, it’s targeted towards Canadians, and I like its mission and goals.
• Plus I didn't know any better at the time and just went with it! (@chad has been really good though.)
• (Another option for Edmonton cyclists is https://yeg.bike run by @Daveography@yeg.bike)

As an example of how accounts work, mine is @reallyflygreg on my home server @mstdn.ca. So my full address is @reallyflygreg@mstdn.ca, and that works as my ID for the entire Fediverse.

• But for users on my home server, they can just use @reallyflygreg.
• You can have identities on other servers too, if you can keep track of them! I'm sticking with one for now.

Posts on Mastodon are called ‘toots’.

• You can edit toots after you 'Publish' them!
• 'Publish' is the equivalent of tapping 'Tweet' or 'Post' that you've seen in other social media.
• 500 characters/toot
• You can also make direct toots that only another a selected user(s) sees.
• No chat groups yet though. (psst, try Signal, it's open source too and very secure.)

Toots can be assigned different privacy levels. These are shown with different icons. Public: Anyone can see it Unlisted: Anyone can see it, but Mastodon discovery features are turned off. Followers only: Only visible to your followers Mentioned people only: i.e. a direct toot to a specified user(s). Is not a secured messaging feature though.

When looking at other user’s toots, you can:

• 'Bookmark' (your private list)
• 'Favourite' (the author and others can see)
• ‘Boost’ (reblog them)

Boosting is the only way to promote a toot in the ‘Fediverse’.

• There are no algorithms or bad actors who can unfairly promote toots.
• Essentially, everyone only gets one vote to promote a toot.

Mastodon doesn’t search through and index every word in toots.

• It only searches through 'hashtags'.
• Putting hashtags in toots is highly encouraged.
• You can follow hashtags. (Which is how I accidentally had my feed flooded with cats.)

In order to search, there is a Search box. The location is variable.

• In my web browser, it's on the upper left, in the Tusky app, I need to swipe from the left.
• Type a search item in the box. A person, hashtag idea, or person's name for example.
• 'Search Results' in my web browser show All, People, Hashtags, and Posts.
• My app only shows Posts, Accounts, and Hashtags.
• I rarely have seen results in Posts though, but I'm probably doing something wrong.
• This is what I've experienced so far, other servers and apps may work differently.

The feeds are:

• Home: users you follow
• Notifications: follows, favourites, edits, and mentions.
• Local: users on your home server
• Fediverse: users followed by other users on your server
• #Explore: news, trending toots, and users to follow.

**One important note here** If you see posts in the feeds scrolling by too quickly.

• Go to Preferences, Appearance, Animations and accessibility
• Make sure the 'Slow mode' box is checked.
• This way, instead of continuous posts rolling by, it'll freeze them at the point you look (you can refresh with new ones still).

In order to use Mastodon:

• Use the website for a server. This works in a desktop/laptop browser, or even a smartphone quite well. Technically you don't need an app.
• Apps! There are apps for every device you can imagine, even the desktop. Check out: https://joinmastodon.org/apps
• If you're looking for suggestions:
• Ivory and Ice Cubes are supposed to be good for iOS.
• I like using a web browser on the desktop (Firefox), and Tusky for Android. (Subway Tooter was another good one and has a lot more configuration options.)
• They might not be good suggestions, that's just what I use.

Best practices:

• Use hashtags
• If you like something, boost it!
• Use alt tags with images to describe them for visually impaired users. Mastodon makes it easy, but doesn't remind you.
• Servers are usually volunteer run on their own dime. Donate to your home server, or even just thank the volunteer(s).
• Be polite, supportive, and inclusive. This has been Mastodon's traditional culture.
• Be patient. Mastodon's servers have had to deal with a massive influx of users lately. Sometimes things run a little slow. (update Feb 4, 2023, I think instance admins have learned how to deal with the influx. Things seem to be working a lot faster and more reliably now.)
• Remember, Twitter was hardly an easy thing to use at first either!

That’s as simple and accurate as I can be. However, I'm not an expert, feel free to correct me. Let me know about any egregious spelling and grammatical errors too. @reallyflygreg@mstdn.ca