On an algorithmic platform, the more attention a post gets, the more it’s likely to reach other folks. That’s not true here! But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t favorite posts! Here’s a good way to think about it

Favorite - “I liked this post! Thanks for sharing it!” Hit that star to let the creator know you enjoyed the topic, are digging the conversation, or just think they’re neat! This is super low impact and low effort, and has no consequences, but is a nice way to thank the person who wrote the thing!

Boost - “More folks should see this!” Boosting a post puts it onto the Home Timelines of folks who follow you. This is really powerful here because it is the only way to get content seen on instances that don’t already federate with the source. Here on the fediverse, we are the collective curators and surfacers, so use Boosts liberally for things you enjoyed, things that folks need to hear, and to help folks who need visibility and support #fediTips

@esdin I see this claim that there's no algorithm and that likes have no influence, but the official Mastodon app on Android does have a tab that lists posts in some sort of non-chronological order. Are you familiar with that feature?
@mandelbrota I’m not seeing what you’re talking about in the iOS app. Maybe they don’t have parity though
@esdin @mandelbrota The iOS has fewer features than the web app. For example you can’t see local and federated timelines in the iOS app. I think this was done purposefully in the official app to make it simpler for those who are used to Twitter
@jasongreen @esdin that's only partially true, AFAIK. The local timeline is available under Search > Community.
@mandelbrota @esdin Thanks I didn’t realize that. It’s sometimes hard to figure out how the iOS app relabels things.