Hey, I joined mastodon.social yesterday and the writing.exchange instance just now... I never seriously used Twitter and tbh I have no idea how to use Mastodon either!
I'm a software engineer in my day job, considering getting into writing poetry on my own. I've previously written poetry during some college classes, but can't seem to motivate myself to actually finish a poem without a deadline.
so, uh, nice to meet everyone!
@Unthinkingclunk Well, it literally is shouting into a crowd of people, so that performative feel is really part of the experience. But that's less intense on smaller instances like writing.exchange than a huge one like mastodon.social.
Plus, you'll likely find that there are a few people you like to talk with more than others, so maybe you'll be replying to the things they say more than just blurting stuff out. That's valid too.
@Unthinkingclunk I find there's much more engagement on Mastodon in general than on Twitter. You are much more likely, when shouting into the void, to have another voice reply and you can have a conversation.
On Twitter, most of the time the void will swallow your words, and that will be the end of it. I credit the Local/Federated timeline system for encouraging the greater engagement by creating more visibility for people you don't normally interact with, but find interesting anyway.
Sixty
The Book of Kels