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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ch.7
Emails have subject line & click to expand body of message.
Fediverse has same thing. A content wrapper [CW] button when posting that adds title, then one clicks to expand post.
It takes very little extra time to do. Subject line doesn't prevent you sending email! It's good for long posts or stuff that people might not want to see.
Ch.11
Metrics don't matter here. Numbers don't matter. Only good interactions matter.
Having more followers does not make my posts more visible.
Following fewer people does not make my posts more visible.
Having lots of favs does not make my posts more visible.
It is not a system of social overlords vs serf audience.
Fedi features are by design. They're not 'missing', they are deliberate because they encourage people to treat each other better #Help#New#FediTips#TwitterExodus#Newbies
Ch.12 #Fediverse has many apps & projects, many servers, many mod teams. This is its strength.
No1 can buy it up.
The code is all open source. No advertisers. There is no reason to make us anxious or aggressive to make us click more or scroll faster, there is no1 to trade clicks & scrolls to for ad$.
Everything runs on donations & volunteer time+skills.
The servers & platforms I move around to & use regularly I should contribute to.
Ch.13
I realise #Fediverse is an evolving co-operating culture with common protocol linking many things. No platform is trying to lock up all my attention in a walled garden.
I can have several accounts, use several platforms keep my circles across all & I'm free to move around.
On phone tablet desktop, I can have apps or open simple browser window +type my instance's name. Many ways to login & communicate across the #Fediverse
PixelFed uses the same federation protocol as Mastodon, which means Mastodon users can follow people on PixelFed and vice versa. You can try following a PixelFed account right now such as @Iancylkowski or @JoseMel or @connyduck
You can use PixelFed through a web browser, and there are also free open Android apps like @PixelDroid and FediLab (@apps).
As it uses the ActivityPub protocol, you can follow and interact with accounts on Mastodon etc from Friendica, and vice versa.
You can also follow RSS feeds as if they were Fediverse accounts, and when an RSS item is published on that feed it will appear in your timeline as if it's a Fediverse post.
You can write very long posts on Friendica, you don't have to worry about character limits.
You can use Friendica accounts through the FediLab app, available on @fdroidorg and Google Play.
You can follow the latest news about Friendica on its official blog at @news
If your instance is blocking an instance with folks you'd like to still read, you can add any Mastodon account to your feed reader (I like NetNewsWire myself) by using the following formula: