Awesome! Welcome to the fold. This document contains tips for those new to the Fediverse, and can be personalized if you choose to fill out the stuff below. This information doesn't leave this page or even hit a server; it's just to generate hard links and templates and the like.
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The Fediverse. It’s the term used for the federated server network that’s used by the Twitter-like Mastodon, the Instagram-like Pixelfed, the YouTube-like PeerTube, and many others.
Your Fediverse account is like an e-mail account - that is, you’re
a user at a server.
You don’t need to spin up your own server (though, you can), nor do you need
to think too hard about which server you join (though, it can matter,
long-term).
In this document, I’m focused on getting you onto Mastodon.
Step 1: Get yourself any Mastodon account. If you don’t feel like searching the server list, I recommend Mastodon @ SDF1. There's also Counter Social, which is federated with Mastodon, and has its own app.
Step 2: Add your Fediverse address to your Twitter bio, e.g., @myUserName@masto.serv.er - this will help followers who migrate to the Fediverse find you.
Step 3: Migrate your follows: Head to Debirdify and/or Fedifinder and follow the instructions there. You should do this periodically to pick up new Twitter expats you follow.
Step 4: Import the follows from Debirdify / Fedifinder in your settings.
That’s it!
Mastodon is the closest Fediverse analog to Twitter, and Twitter is my audience for this document. It has features that Twitter doesn’t, and lacks features Twitter supports (for now):
<a rel="me" href="https://my.server.instance/@my_username" title="Mastodon"></a> somewhere on the page (you can click that code to copy it).Remember that Mastodon is like if Twitter were hosted like e-mail. From a technical standpoint, it kinda doesn't matter which server you're on. From a community or performance standpoint, it can matter.
If you pick a server and it's performing badly or the community sucks, you _can_ jump servers. Create a new account, mark it as an alias of your old account, then tell the old account to migrate to the new one. Both of these options are at the bottom of your "Edit Profile" page, and the whole process takes 5 minutes.
But get your feet wet first and just join a server; don't let perfect be your enemy.
If the mods hate you, think about why before migrating to another instance. If you're regularly posting hateful rhetoric or misinformation, the next mods will probably hate you as well.
On the other hand, each server is a kind of fiefdom, ruled by an admin. There are standards that federated (in the network) instances should follow, lest they be defederated, but like all distributed systems, moderation quality and policy can vary. It may be that you just ran afoul of some niche rule (e.g., WE ONLY ALLOW STAR TREK POSTS HERE!) or mod having a bad day. This is rare, but it does happen.
If, on reflection, that's what you believe to be the case, by all means, move on.
But the initial self-reflection needs to happen: even if you believe you didn't do anything wrong, approach it from the fact that the mod is responsible for the community, and view your impact through that lens.
Favorites are nice - they let the author know you enjoyed their content - but boosts (mastodon for “re-tweets”) are what build the community. Boost often.
As in anything, look for the helpers. If you find someone being helpful, follow and boost them so they can reach others!
And, you know, also be a helper if you can!
A note about cross-posters (e.g., moa.party): if you’re going to use one (which I don’t really recommend), post to Mastodon and let the cross-poster post to Twitter.
The reason: Mastodon is more featureful, with the built-in content warnings and larger char limit.
Going the other way makes it harder for existing Mastodon users to keep their feed tidy. So, you know, enter someone else’s house like a polite guest and stuff.
I don’t recommend them in general because - besides the etiquette violation explained above - automated cross-posts from Mastodon to Twitter tend to get poorly formatted and broken up. The 500-char limit on Mastodon doesn’t fit neatly into a 280-character Twitterbox, especially not with a byline and link. When I do cross-post from Mastodon to Twitter, I’ll usually paraphrase the original for length, and link to it.
Remember: you don't have to drop Twitter. I didn't. In fact, it's easier to migrate if you don't - more Twitter-expats can find you, and you can use Debirdify and/or Fedifinder to locate your follows as they migrate over.
And, lets face it, all the awful, fun-to-yell-at people are still over there and unlikely to move.
You can configure your account to never hide them; it’s how I roll, at least. Configured this way, I think about them more as subject lines, and you should too. So your politics posts get a helpful “USPOL” lead-in, for example.
They’re not a bad thing; they’re really useful for the community.
Come, join us! Get over here before the bird site collapses under the weight of Elon’s stupid.
Then, please, help me make it better!
Remember that your instance is run by regular people out of their own pockets! You should check your instance's About page to see if you can lend them some assistance!