James Cridland

A boring #tip that I'm sure every new person knows about but just in case you don't...

On Twitter, you could only follow people.

Here (by 'here' I mean #Mastodon's website specifically, not seemingly Pleroma) you can also follow hashtags. Just search for a hashtag and if you like it, hit the follow button, top right.

Nov 20, 2022 at 4:45amWeb
Show threadDavid Woje Nov 20, 2022
@james thanks for the tip! This only works in browser, not app (that I know of) if anyone was wondering.
Show threadShrikant JoshiNov 20, 2022
@davidwoje @james I can confirm that it definitely works on Subway Tooter and Fedilab - both Android apps. Work on Tusky too, except Tusky only allows 5 tabs on your main screen.
Show threadJames CridlandNov 20, 2022
@shrikant @davidwoje I'm not talking about search tabs, like Tweetdeck or these apps; I'm talking about following a hashtag, so that everything with that hashtag appears in your Home Feed. But those are cool too!
Show threadShrikant JoshiNov 20, 2022
@james Ah, got it! I didn't know that! Cool find, #TIL! Thanks! :) @davidwoje
Show threadJoseph Jude Nov 20, 2022
@davidwoje @shrikant @james I follow hashtags. It is like following topics like #photography #obsidian #podcasting

Only problem is hashtags are not across fediverse. They are limited to the instance.
Show threadDavid Woje Nov 20, 2022
@james @shrikant @jjude interesting. May be good though to not flood your home page with tags 🤷‍♂️
Show threadJames CridlandNov 20, 2022
@jjude @davidwoje @shrikant Ah, interesting.
Show threadShrikant JoshiNov 20, 2022

@jjude Hmmm, in that case I'm hoping more people start posting to the pod.ms instance, or I'll have to move to a more 'active' instance... :(

Suggestions? @davidwoje? @james?

Show threadJoseph Jude Nov 20, 2022
@james @davidwoje @shrikant I have a self-hosted instance. But to follow hashtags I have one in mas.to
Show threadShrikant JoshiNov 20, 2022

@jjude Wait, how does the following hashtags bit work? Like, did you make a separate account on mas.to to follow hashtags there? How do you get those hashtags in your social.jjude.com timeline? 🤔

Sorry I'm asking so many questions and please feel free to totally ignore if you don't have the bandwidth to answer them! Thanks a ton for all the replies so far! :)

Show threadJoseph Jude Nov 20, 2022
@shrikant

• you can follow only from web; don’t think any mobile apps have that feature
• once you follow a hashtag, any post with that hashtag on the instance appear in your home feed
• to get that to another instance, copy that particular post url and search in the other instance. Because of the way fediverse works, it will appear in other instance (in my case social.jjude.com)
• then you can reply, favourite, boost
Show threadShrikant JoshiNov 20, 2022

@jjude Oh cool. The app I use, Subway Tooter, allows me to do cross-account actions like boost a tweet in account X's timeline as account Y instead. It's got other awesome features too but the UX is... difficult.

I was wondering if I could follow a particular hashtag on instance X but in the timeline of account@instanceY instead by using an account@instanceX - is this possible without creating a bot?