I'm seeing random posts from people i don't follow in "Local timeline." Does this change over time with the people I follow?

@MrHodl Local timeline is showing you all posts from your mastodon instance.

Your instance is @mastodon.social, so you see all the posts from people in @mastodon.social (like me)

Thanks for the answer guys.

Is there a way we can make our own "instance"?

@MrHodl Mastodon is open source and self hostable. you just need to own a server, a domain and get it set up.
See this link for details:
https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon
tootsuite/mastodon

Your self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community - tootsuite/mastodon

@Strit @MrHodl Making an instance is more for someone who want to host a community, but I guess it's possible to create one for you and your friends
@caillou @Strit Can't we all make an instance have it connected to all the other Instances on the network?
@MrHodl Sure. It would work, but it would be a waste of ressources. Not everybody needs an instance.
@Strit What are the benefits of hosting yourself? Censorship resistance?

@MrHodl @Strit Instances are made for communities. Like the Linux community, for example.

For a personal use, you might not need an instance of your own.

@MrHodl @Strit I think they're working on a language filter, so you can at least see things in languages you understand. But it doesn't seem to work yet.
@MrHodl @Strit Otherwise, you can find a mastodon instance with a community that you're intersted in with this tool : https://instances.social/
Mastodon instances

@caillou @MrHodl Many instances exists and some are bound to be a community you would fit into.
@MrHodl Mastodon is open source, you can totally make your own instance if you need to, and have the required skillset
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