The Mastodon community is so accepting, supportive, and generous. As a tooter with quite a few awesome people following me, one of the ways I try to add value to the community is to help others find their people. With this in mind, I tend to boost every introduction toot I see. I may also do this upon request.
Here it is. The latest track I’ve released, and the first video clip I’ve ever done. It is, of course, Space Pop (feat. Kaaren Elizabeth Smith).
Kaaren is a long time friend who I used to co-host a weekly karaoke night with, at a small town bar called The Reef back in the 90’s!!
One of the goals of the Dgar Project is to write new songs, and record them with friends that I have some kind of music related history with. When I got the opportunity to record with Kaaren, I took it.
Kaaren, on the day, was amazing. I sent her a demo of the track to practice and listen to a week earlier. She did some really quirky takes. It’s all her voice too. There’s no auto-tune. There’s no pitch correction. It’s all her. So much fun.
The “doo doo doos” she does was originally a melody I played on a distorted electric guitar. On one of the takes she does these “doo doo doos” over the riff. It just sounds so cool, I replaced my guitar track with her vocals.
I also hope you enjoy my #Blender project that makes the video in all its 8 frames-per-second glory!
This is your regular reminder that the fediverse is not Twitter. Boosts are incredibly important here. It’s the best way to expose content across instances!
DIRECT MESSSAGES
Direct Messages on Mastodon are probably one of the most confusing things for new users as they don't really work in the same way as on other platforms. They are a great way to continue a conversation between people, but please be aware that they are not encrypted etc and so should not be used for confidential information etc.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel. https://youtu.be/XWiaQAmHvys
Having moved across from my previous instance to a new one recently, I thought I should recreate and sort my previous tips and tricks thread into a new one to pin to this profile.
It would mean the world to me if you could look to #Boost this thread around your networks and help spread these tips to as many people as possible.
The goal of this thread is to share with everyone the things that I have learnt during my time here and I will continue to add more #FediTips to it as I continue to learn more myself.
Each tip will have a video to go along with it, but if you would like to view all of them, I have made a playlist on #YouTube that has them all in it.
If you have found other tips etc that you think would be awesome for others to know, please feel free to shoot me a message (or tag me in a post) and I will do my best to create some content for it and add it here.
And with all that out of the way, let the monstrous thread commence!
A lot of people have joined Mastodon, only to then look at their home timeline and see it bare. As there is no algorithm here to fill it with content for you, it is key to learn how to find people to follow from across the Fediverse and how to follow hashtags to help you find the content you are interested in.
The search capability in Mastodon is a bit different to other platforms and so it is important to learn how the #search features work.
Here is a short video on how to best use search to find what you want and I also cover why you may sometimes not initially find what you are expecting.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
A lot of us already have a large #Twitter#Network and would love to be able to easily search #Mastodon for them to fill out our network here. The #Fedifinder site helps make this a reality and it recently got some updates to make it easier and faster to use.
With the recent changes that have been implemented by Twitter, I can't vouch for how much longer this will work, but it should at least help you get started.
This video walks through the steps to #Migrate your network across in minutes.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Composing a post is one of the first things you will do upon joining Mastodon and I highly suggest creating you introduction post for others to learn a bit about you.
There are many options available to you when composing a post such as using Alt Text for accessibility and Content Warnings where appropriate. You also have options surrounding post language settings and filters to tidy up your timelines.
I have done my best here to cover all of these and more in a short video to make it as easy to follow along with as I could.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
For those of use that made the move over to Mastodon from Twitter, you may be used to using one of the many tools like Tweetdeck or Tweeten to truly enhance your experience. If you were one of these people like me, then you will be super happy to learn that Mastodon has a similar feature built in natively called the Advanced Web Interface.
Here is a short video guide on how to turn this awesome feature on as well as how to leverage a few of the features that it allows for such as multi colums and granular control of each column.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Do you love Keyboard Shortcuts as much as I do? Do you possibly have a temporary or permanent impairmaent that makes using a mouse difficult?
Mastodons web interface has a large selection of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to easily navigate around the interface, make posts and more. This short video guide shows you how to find these shortcuts and will alos show you a few of them in action.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
A little known feature of #Mastodon is the ability to create your own personal notes about an account.
This is a great way to potentially remind yourself why you follow particular accounts (or just about any other reason you can think of). I have seen some people that even use these notes to keep track of a "three strikes, you're out" rule that they use before blocking someone.
Also, these notes are private. The account does not know what you have written down, nor the fact that you have even made these notes.
Please note that technically your instance admin could theoretically look at these if they were so inclined, but the same could be said about anything on Mastodon for that matter.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
With all the new members that have been joining #Mastodon over the last few months, the chances of you running into accounts that you feel the need to mute or block will undoubtedly increase.
That is completely fine as your experience on this platform is dictated by you and you alone.
Mastodon has a pretty robust set of features surrounding muting and blocking accounts that you can easily leverage to cater your timelines to your preferences. THere are even options to temporarily mute people for set time periods if you just want a break from someone for a few hours or days.
This short video guide covers how you use these tools effectively to make your timeline just the way you want it.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Seeing a little too much #Caturday in your feed? Want to hide #spoilers for a TV Show until you see the episode? #Filters are easy to set up and customise on #Mastodon. They are also extremely customisable with options around where to filter content from and for how long.
This short video walks through how to use them step by step to make it as easy as possible for you to manage your feeds.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Lists are a feature that many are used to using from other platforms, but they likely work a bit different over here on Mastodon compared to what you were used to.
They are a great way for you to create some of your own personally curated timelines should you wish to.
They are also personal for you and you alone.
Check out this super short video guide that works through how to set them up for yourself.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Direct Messages on Mastodon are probably one of the most confusing things for new users as they don't really work in the same way as on other platforms. They are a great way to continue a conversation between people, but please be aware that they are not encrypted etc and so should not be used for confidential information etc.
I have done my best in this video guide to explain what they are in just a few minutes. I cover how they work as well as the ways you can initiate and continue them.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
For one reason or another, you may find yourself wishing to move to another instance of #Mastodon, and that is completely fine (I have done it a couple of times myself in fact).
The question that invariably arises though is how do I move my data such as the people I #Follow, #Mute or #Block? Well luckily, that process is quite simple and can be done in a matter of minutes. Once done, you can then migrate your account across and that will bring your followers along for the ride with you.
This short video guide walks through the process of moving your data step by step to make it as eas as possible for you.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Need to set up #Scheduled posts for a business account or just want to post something later?
#Mastodon doesn’t support this natively, but you can use a website and a #Development App to create a scheduler for yourself.
My short video shows how to do this in a step-by-step way to make it easy for you to follow along on your own device. And the best pat is that it takes mere minutes to set up and use.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Is there a handful of #Hashtags that you like to post about? Do you want people to be able to easily see your posts about these when they look at your profile?
Then #FeaturedHashtags are the thing to use instead of just posting them in your #bio.
This allows people visiting your profile to filter your posts for some of your most commonly used tags. Great for getting to know you better before following you.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Just loaded up someone's #profile (or your own) and only want to see their posts that contain a particular #hashtag? Turns out that its not one of their featured hashtags?
There is no UI to be able to do this, but it is possible with a small modification to the URL you visit.
In the URL, add a slash, the word 'tagged', another slash, and then the hashtag you wish to see.
e.g. /tagged/hashtag
In this short video I show how this works and highlight a couple of examples of it in action.
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Given the open nature of the #ActivityPub protocol, it is possible to pull in the Instagram alternative, #Pixelfed, into your Mastodon Home Timeline.
This is great for those looking for an alternative to Instagram, but not wanting to use yet another app.
Here is another short video on how this works and how you can use it yourself!
Please #boost to help spread the knowledge and if you like the content I make, feel free to subscribe to the channel.
Time for a new #poll - this one for #readers and #books enthusiasts. Sending to @bookstodon -- please #boost to get more responses (which will hopefully be more useful).
Which reading tracking / collection site(s) do you use?