Understanding Mastodon

I have read there is some confusion about Mastodon lately, so I am writing a short article to try to help out those who are curious.

What is Mastodon?

You may have heard that Mastodon is a social network, but it may be easier to understand if we say it is a social network software. Any person (who knows how to manage a web server, of course) can get it, install it and create a Mastodon server. In Mastodon, each of these servers is called an instance.

Once it is installed, Mastodon works as a microblogging service. It allows its users to post updates whenever they want, to follow other users, to favourite and to reply to their posts, very much like Twitter.

Do you need to install Mastodon to use it? No. All you need to do is to find an instance that accepts new users and create an account there.

How you can join

As mentioned, first you need to find a Mastodon instance that accepts new users. There are several lists of servers, but the main ones are these three:

• The Mastodon project's list, https://joinmastodon.org/servers
• Instances Social, https://instances.social; and,
• Fediverse Observer, https://fediverse.observer

Once you are in, you can connect and interact with any other user you want, even if you are not in the same instance. The only difference between Mastodon and the social networks you might be more used to is that, to mention someone, you need to include both the user name and the instance, like this:

@user@domain

In other social networks you only mention the user because you are both in the same server. The web and most Mastodon software autocompletes addresses, so you will get used easily —do not worry.

Advantages of Mastodon

There are a few, but I will only mention the ones I think are the most interesting:

• Each instance is a community by itself. While there are generic Mastodon instances, it is also true that many instances gather people with similar interests.
• There are no algorithms! There is not any company trying to make money; there are not people fighting for popularity. Mastodon feels and is cozier than other social networks.
• The links you place are real links to the site you want to mention. On the mainstream social networks, links are tampered with and "studied" by those social networks owners.
• There are many applications to use Mastodon. There are mobile and desktop apps, or you can just use your browser.

Mastodon Uniquenesses

Mastodon also has a few things that makes it unique, which might result confusing for some people. These are the main three:

• You will have three timelines in your Mastodon account: your "home" timeline includes updates about the people you follow; your "local" timeline includes updates from other users in your instance; and the "federated" timeline includes updates from other severs as well.
• Although there are ways to automate things in Mastodon, even bot accounts, most people will find automation disagreeable. Mastodon will work better for everybody (and for you) if you keep it real, posting when you wish to, without scheduling or automation.
• We will all expect you to be thoughtful on Mastodon. Servers are maintained by people like you and me. Try not to abuse the servers resources and consider sending a small donation now and then to help covering the costs. We all do.

Okay, that is it for today. I hope you can find this information useful and let's meet on the other side.

#mastodon #socialnetworks