As artists rely on audiences for support and earning a living, it's scary and difficult having to start over on a new platform. I know a lot of you are nervous, and worried, and anxious right now. Here's a little thread on how you can get settled in on the fediverse, how to build up a community here, and how to get your work seen.
The main form of discovery on here revolves around hashtags. Unlike other platforms, there's no algorithm here, no punishement for using (or not using) tags /🧵
, using too many tags, or using specific tags. Hashtags are used to find content, so when you're tagging your work, think in terms of 'what words would someone use to find this specific thing'. On insta, weird esoteric tags trend that aren't necessarily descriptive of the work but people have to be aware of them and use them to get views. That's not a thing here. If you're posting digital art of your OC, tag it #Art #DigitalArt #OC , etc.
More info on hashtags here: https://mastodon.art/@Curator/108220154510678618 🧵
General advice for people coming over from Twitter and Instagram regarding hashtags: Hashtags are a useful and important tool here. Clicking on a hashtag will show you results from across different servers, so they're important for federating content and finding people. There's no need to have loads of tags on your post like Insta to try to catch more engagement, but also you won't be punished for using tags like Twitter. (cont)
As well as hashtagging your own work, you can use hashtags to find people you might like to follow. For example, if you're looking for watercolour artists, click #watercolour .
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We value accessibility here, and adding alt text to your media is important. As well as just being a good thing to do, many people (me included) won't boost posts that have un-described media. So, adding alt text helps your work get boosted and seen by more people.
More on alt text here: https://mastodon.art/@Curator/109279035107793247 🧵
We have a lot of blind and partially sighted users on the fediverse. Accessibility is important here, and as such, it's good form to include image descriptions (alt text) when we add media to our posts. When someone uses a screenreader to read the timeline, and the screenreader comes to an image with no alt text, it just says 'image' (as far as I know). That's boring, unhelpful, and provides no clue as to what the image actually *is*. This differs slightly depending on how you're using (cont)
mastodon.art is a community instance, and our Local Timeline is important for forming friendships with our neighbours, supporting each other, and strengthening those community vibes.
Have a browse through the Local Timeline and interact with the posts there. If you see new folk, drop them a welcome. Leave nice comments on people's art. Like it and boost it. Be supportive.
Remember: no algorithm, the feeds are chronological, we have to find the content we want to follow. 🧵
Mastodon•ART 🎨 Curator
❄️Faerie❄️