Let’s be honest: Twitter was a hell site long before Elon Musk bought it. It has tremendous power to elevate voices, but it also plays on some of our worst social tendencies. We can talk a lot about why that is, but I think it comes down to design choices. Twitter, like most social media, is built to drive as much engagement as possible.
But what if Twitter were optimized differently? What would that look like?
This is what makes Mastodon, and the ActivityPub protocol that powers it, so liberating. This isn't another startup. It’s not a company at all. It’s a community. There are no ads, no tracking, and no monetization whatsoever. This is a place shaped—at the cultural, design, and code level—by members of marginalized communities who wanted to escape the rage-driven onslaught of trolls and doomscrolling that define social media. A place built around connection and conversation instead of engagement.
If that sounds like bullshit to you, I’m not surprised. There’s a lot of similar-sounding bullshit in the air right now (see: crypto). We all reflexively think every online service is some kind of play for attention and monetization because that’s the world we’ve adapted to. But the network built around the ActivityPub, known by longtime users as the “Fediverse,” isn’t that.
I asked the community for tips on getting started. Hundreds of people offered me tips, one person rickrolled me, and one sent me an amazing Beatles/Pokémon mashup. Such responses are typical: This is a community of playful people who, by and large, want to have conversations with individual people. They can also be very helpful if you show that you’re willing to learn about the culture and engage on its level. I’ve tried to gather the tips and context they shared with me, and I hope I do a decent job. Let’s dive in.
It can be tempting to compare Mastodon directly with Twitter, which on one level makes sense. Both are microblogging platforms where people can follow your posts, both have “like” buttons and allow you to share content, and both allow you to follow other people’s posts. But this isn’t a perfect analogy.
First, as I said, Mastodon isn’t a company—it’s a piece of open source software with a community built around it. That software, in turn, is built around ActivityPub, a protocol that several other apps can also interface with.
This sounds boring as hell, I’ll grant you that, but it really isn’t. Every major social networking site, at this point, is basically a place to share screenshots from other social networking sites. Twitter is full of Reddit screenshots; Instagram is full of Twitter screenshots. This is an objectively stupid situation, but it’s happening because it’s not currently possible to share posts from one platform on another.
This is where the Fediverse comes in. Imagine if Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook were all part of a broader network, and you could do things like follow an Instagram account on Twitter or reply to a YouTube comment on Facebook. This is how the Fediverse works.
There are all kinds of applications that run on the ActivityPub protocol. There’s Pixelfed, a photo-sharing site similar to how Instagram was (before it tried to become TikTok). There’s PeerTube, a video-sharing site, and OwnCast, a streaming service. There are even services that predate Mastodon, like Friendica and Gnu Social. I could go on. The point is that Mastodon users can follow users on any of these applications, and people using those applications can follow Mastodon users. The whole network is connected.
If major social networks worked like that right now, maybe we’d all be taking fewer screenshots—we could just share the actual posts directly. If this is confusing, don’t worry. All you need to know is that Mastodon can connect to more than Mastodon. Now let’s talk about how you can get started.
One thing migrating Twitter users find confusing about Mastodon is the need to choose a server. Some say that this requirement needs to go away, and I sympathize—it does complicate things. But this isn’t a bug; it’s the core idea.
Anyone who wants to can set up Mastodon and configure it to work however they like. These are usually called “instances,” but are also sometimes called “servers.” The word server has been muddied by Discord, where specific groups are called servers despite everything being hosted by Discord the company. Mastodon isn’t like that. When I talk about a Mastodon server, I’m actually referring to an independently run entity. Someone took the Mastodon software and installed it on a server that they control. That person, or group of people, can tweak the software to run differently, make moderation decisions, and even shut down accounts. They can even read your DMs, much like Twitter employees can (if you want secure communications, you should check out Signal.)
Basically, joining a server means giving whoever is running that server a lot of trust. The best case scenario is that you find a server built by someone you already know. Failing that, though, there are lists of public servers you can join, and you can always migrate to a smaller server later if you want. There’s an official list of open servers, which is a great place to start—it’s curated to include only places that are welcoming to newcomers and that have specific moderation standards. If you want to find something more niche, here’s a wizard you can use to find one specific to your interests. Either way, read about the communities you think might be a good fit and scroll through some posts before committing. You can typically scroll through posts by clicking the “See what’s happening” link below the sign-up form.
The good news is that if you want to switch servers later, you can take your follows and followers with you. It’s easier to start on one of the bigger servers, get a feel for how things work, and migrate later.
Oh, one more thing: Right now most of these Mastodon servers are a little overwhelmed and many are asking new people to apply for a waiting list. The volunteers who run the server are trying to weed out bots and bad actors. Leave a note and you should, in most cases, get access in a day or so.
One of the first things you should do is set up your profile, which you can find in the settings. Most users traditionally avoided using their actual names—the recent flood of Twitter users are using their names. (As a journalist, I’m using my real name for now.)
Say a bit about who you are, and be careful to make it about more than just work—or even better, don’t mention work at all. You’re a person, here to connect with people. You should also upload an image so people can identify you at a glance, and a banner if you have something fun you want to put at the top of your profile.
It’s also worth pointing out that verification works completely differently. Basically, all you need to do is link to your Mastodon page on a website using the rel=“me” attribute—there’s code you can copy if you’re confused. This allows your server to confirm that you are, in fact, the person who owns that domain name, and will add a green check mark to your profile.
Mastodon, at first glance, looks a lot like Twitter. The first thing you need to realize is that there is no algorithm—what you’re seeing are the posts and boosts from the people you follow in reverse chronological order. You can explore a few popular posts using the Explore tab, but such things aren’t pushed to your timeline.
Speaking of the timeline: It shows you all of the posts (sometimes called “toots”) written by people you follow. You can reply to any post. You can “boost” a post, similar to retweeting on Twitter. You can also “like” or “bookmark” a post. Because there is no algorithm, the “like” button doesn’t help promote a post so more people can see it—all it does is notify the user that you liked what they said.
What you won’t see while scrolling through the timeline is how many likes and boosts a given post has—that is only visible if you click through. This is an intentional choice, so that you judge a post on what it says instead of how popular it is. You’ll also notice that there is no equivalent to the Retweet With Comment function on Twitter. This is also intentional, a way to avoid the “dunking” and “character of the day” dynamic that defines so many Twitter interactions.
Finally, there is no full text search function—you can only search for hashtags. This, also, is intentional. Trolls use the search function on sites like Twitter to find and insert themselves into conversations, which is something the marginalized people who shaped the early days of the Fediverse wanted to escape. Hashtags, meanwhile, allow people who are posting to allow their posts to be found. It’s about consent. Every once and a while someone attempts to build a search tool, but such services typically end up being blocked.
If you want to explore outside your timeline, there are a few places to do that. The Explore section shows posts that are currently popular and lets you browse currently popular hashtags and news articles. (Note that many servers do not offer this tab.) The Local section shows you every post on the server you’re currently using, which is particularly nice if you’re on a smaller server. Finally, the Federated tab shows you every single post published in the entire Fediverse, which is probably going to be pretty overwhelming.
Be sure to follow people who seem interesting. There’s no algorithm recommending content to you, so you need to start following people before you can see posts. I wrote about how to find your Twitter friends on Mastodon, if that helps, but make sure you also find new people to follow and talk to—this is a chance to try something new.
Posting works pretty similarly to other social networks. You can type whatever you want, attach images and videos, and even add a poll. Having said that, there are a few points to keep in mind. First, hashtags are used much more here than on other social networks. This is because of the lack of search functionality—people can only search for hashtags, so if you want people who don’t follow you to find your post, you should use them. (Or, if you don’t want random people to find your post, don’t use them—as with many features here, consent is the basic design principle.)
The big difference, though, is the content warning system. This is a subtle thing to grasp but an important one. The early culture of the Fediverse and Mastodon were shaped by marginalized communities, particularly LGBTQ+ folks. They shaped the content warning system, which is unique among social networks so far as I know. Basically, if you’re sharing something that others might find uncomfortable, you can put the post behind a custom warning.
For example, if I were sharing a nude picture of myself I could write the content warning “nude pasty white dude.” Anyone who wants to see me, for some reason, can click to do so, but everyone else is spared. This is useful for nudity, yes, but the culture on Mastodon also uses it for anything potentially triggering—think mental health issues or family trauma.
The system evolved from there. It became a way to post about things most people didn’t care to read about without subjecting the majority of your followers to it. So if I, a person who doesn’t usually post about politics, decides to post about politics, I can put up a content warning explaining that I’m doing this. Then people who are scrolling can decide whether they want to read it or not.
Mastodon became a comfortable place for many during the late 2010s, which were dark years for a lot of marginalized communities. It’s meant to be a comfortable place, not the argumentative hellscape that other social media turned into. This tool helps make that happen, so try to respect it. Observe how people are using it and try to do the same.
One more thing: If you’re uploading images, be sure to leave a description of the image. This helps anyone who is blind get a sense for what is in the image, and is generally just considered good practice.
The Fediverse is not free of harassment, but there are also tools for fighting it. The first thing you need to know is that there are entire servers out there dedicated specifically to trolling and harassing people on other servers. Most of these servers are blocked by the popular servers, so if you’re using one of them you won’t run into them. If you do, however, you can block and report the user to your servers’ moderators, who will typically respond quickly. Note that you, as an individual, can also block entire servers.
The internet was never supposed to be like it is now, a service we use to log in to a handful of social networks. The web used to be a pretty decentralized place—one where people with different interests hung out on different websites. I’m not saying that was better, exactly—God knows the old internet was a mess—but there was an authenticity to it.
This was before “optimizing for engagement” was a thing, back when people built blogs and websites from scratch for the heck of it and carefully curated their RSS readers. We lost that spirit when we shifted the time we spent online away from small, independent communities built on shared interest, toward dopamine-optimized apps that make most of us depressed, anxious, and angry while a few Silicon Valley types get very, very rich.
The Fediverse manages to combine what was great about the early internet—small, independent communities—with what can be fun about the social internet: the ability to connect with and keep up with people from different walks of life. I’ve had more genuine conversations within two weeks on Mastodon than the past year on Twitter or Facebook, and from what I can tell that’s just how the service works. Mastodon is built for one-on-one conversation.
Having said that, getting started isn’t straightforward, especially now—many servers are overrun with new users. Even if that wasn’t the case, this is software with a bit of a learning curve. Social media sites were built with billions of investor dollars; the Fediverse is maintained and moderated entirely by volunteers. Things are going to be a bit bumpy.
Just remember: this isn’t a startup that’s obsessively pursuing growth, and you’re not a consumer. This is a series of communities, and you’re someone thinking of joining one. You can’t approach it, or think about it, the way you would a commercial venture, as hard as that can be to comprehend this late into capitalism. Just remember: Community is more fulfilling than commerce. Mastodon and related services are optimized for connection, not engagement, and that comes through in the community as it exists right now. I hope it stays that way, which is why I’ve decided to make this guide fairly extensive. I hope I capture the spirit of it.
I could go on for a long time, but I think I’ve offered the basics here. The main thing I want to impart is that Mastodon and the Fediverse aren’t simply a technology—they are a community. A flood of new users will inevitably shape what that community becomes, but there’s a reason so many people are leaving sites like Twitter to hang out in the Fediverse—the culture is better. Everyone who joins a community is responsible for helping to maintain that.
So, with this in mind, I want to point you toward some resources from people who have thought much more deeply about these issues than me.
- Fedi.tips is a great resource for anyone starting out.
- RunYourOwn.social is a great summary if you want to set up your own server.
- Mastodon’s official documentation is also an informative read.
- This post on wordsmith.social.
- Finally, this post on GitHub goes over a lot of the lessons I’ve been trying to outline here.
Read those resources to get a handle on things, but also feel free to just explore. Dive in, and generally just try to be a good hang. The internet is toxic enough, and when we find a place that isn’t terrible we should try to keep it that way. See you in the Fediverse.
