Mastodon Explained in 100, 200, and 500 Words

Mastodon Explained in 100 Words.md

Mastodon Explained in 100 Words

1. Mastodon is a microblogging social media platform like Twitter; you can write posts ("toots") and interact with other people's posts on a timeline.
2. To sign up, you first need to choose a server (an "instance"), like choosing an email provider.
3. Start posting!
4. It's probably adequate to start with the official app made by the Mastodon group.
5. There are three timelines; "Home" shows posts from people you follow; "Local" shows posts from people who are on your instance; "Federated" shows posts from all people known to your instance.
6. You may notice some differences and limitations in the experience as compared to Twitter.

Mastodon Explained in 200 words.md

Mastodon Explained in 200 Words

1. Mastodon is a microblogging social media platform like Twitter; you can write posts and interact with other people's posts on a timeline.
   1. The advantage is that Mastodon is decentralized, like email, so no single company controls it or can shut it down.
   2. Your username will look like a Twitter username, but with a domain at the end, something like @example@mastodon.social.
2. To sign up, you first need to choose a server (or "instance"), like choosing an email provider.
   1. Any of these will be a fine choice, but it's advisable to choose one that's not too large and focused on an interest of yours if possible.
3. Start posting!
4. It's probably adequate to start with the official app made by the Mastodon group.
5. The "Home" Timeline shows posts from people you follow; "Local" shows posts from people who are on your instance; "Federated" shows posts from all people known to your instance.
6. You may notice some differences and limitations in the experience as compared to Twitter.
   1. In most cases, you can't see a user's full list of followers/followings.
   2. In most cases, you can't see the full list of likes and replies for a post.
   3. You can't search for text across all of Mastodon.

Mastodon Explained in 500 Words.md

Mastodon Explained in 500 Words

1. Mastodon is a microblogging social media platform like Twitter. You can post text, images, and photos; follow people; and like, reply to, and re-post other people's posts (or "Toots," as they're called on Mastodon). Posts from people you follow is shown in a timeline very much like Twitter's.
   1. The advantage is that Mastodon is decentralized, like email, so no single company controls it or can shut it down.
   2. There are many different Mastodon servers (or "instances"), but, like email, anybody from any instance can follow, like, and re-post people and posts from any other instance.
   3. Imagine being able to follow a Facebook account from your Twitter account, and you'll get the idea.
   4. Because accounts are decentralized, your username will look like a Twitter username, but with a domain at the end, like an email address -- something like @example@mastodon.social.
2. To sign up, you first need to choose an instance, like choosing an email provider.
   1. Mastodon hosts a directory of instances, all of which have committed to the Mastodon Server Covenant.
   2. Any of these will be a fine choice, but it's advisable to choose one that's not too large and focused on an interest of yours if possible.
   3. There are also instance directories, like instances.social, for more advanced searches.
   4. I recommend looking for instances with between 200 and 10,000 users, and with a lot of connections (meaning you will see more content from more servers).
3. Once you've signed up, all you need to do is write posts and follow people, just as you would on Twitter.
   1. Consider starting by following the people suggested to you when you sign up, by searching for hashtags, browsing the "Local" or "Federated" timelines, or browsing a Mastodon profile directory like fediverse.info
4. There are a number of smartphone apps available, but it's probably adequate to start with the official one made by the Mastodon group.
5. There are three timelines; "Home" shows posts from people you follow; "Local" shows posts from people who are on the same instance you are; "Federated" shows posts from all people known to your instance.
6. If you were a heavy Twitter user, you may notice some differences and limitations in the experience, and some of these can admittedly be frustrating.
   1. You can't see a user's full list of followers/followings from an app; you can only see who on your instance that user follows or who follows that user.
      1. To see a user's full list of followers/followings, you need to view their profile on the web.
      2. That is, unless they are on your instance, in which case you can see all their followers and followings from anywhere.
   2. You can't see the full list of likes and replies for a post unless you are viewing it on the website of the user's instance.
   3. You can't do an ordinary text search within the content of posts; you can only search for hashtags, or for text in posts that you've previously interacted with.