sheepchase (@[email protected])

Doing a post (as are many now) for those who are checking out this place due to the #Twitter fiasco. Some tips to help: 1. Your experience will be different to twitter but that’s a good thing, honest (I was an avid twitter user before). Give it time, give it a chance. 2. Because there’s no algorithm here feeding you recommendations at first you’ll need to find some content, so: - search for hashtags. (You can pin/follow hashtags you search for too). If you like cats look at #CatsOfMastodon. In fact look at that anyway so you can see my #cats. - follow people. Just follow them, you can always unfollow them! 3. Interact. If you have social anxiety (as I do) try to push yourself to reply. It’s definitely rewarding. 4. Some technical stuff: - ‘boosts’ are the same as retweets. Many servers don’t have a ‘quote tweet’ function as that’s been used on twitter to harass minorities (it happened to me). - ‘favorites’ don’t do anything other than tell the person who wrote the post that you appreciate and noticed what they wrote (there’s no algorithm which is what they were used for on twitter). But boost and favorite a lot and you’ll reap the benefits of being sociable. - add descriptive text to images you post (‘alt text’) for people who use screen readers. It only takes a few seconds and will increase the amount of people who will boost your post. 5. Add a profile photo/avatar and a short bio if you want people to follow you. Then post an introduction post and include the #introduction hashtag (also you can find people to follow with that hashtag). 6. “How to find people?!” This is what a lot of people find most different to twitter (and can feel annoying at first). My main advice is the same as number 1: give it time and you’ll find and (re)connect organically. But the main method I use when I want to find a specific person is to use a search engine and search for their name. If they have a presence on Mastodon/Fediverse they’ll have a link to it on a homepage/a page of links/even twitter. But for now take some time to get to know new people and the old ones will come along I swear. 7. Be your kind and lovely selves! #TwitterMigration #FediTips #Fediverse #Mastodon