Interested in joining Mastodon, Pixelfed, or Loops? Here’s a quick guide to get you going.
There has been a lot of discussion recently about Meta—specifically the new policy allowing the company to scrape our work and websites to train their AI models.
While Meta has indefinitely delayed the policy in response to concerns from advertisers, publishers, and others in the industry, I don’t believe this fight is over. In fact, there have reports that Meta is already scraping users’ websites, and this policy only formalizes it.
Artists, writers, and other creators are responding in various ways, including boycotts. One thing I’d like to add to the conversation is the idea of decentralized social media.
There is already a home waiting for those of us who want to leave Meta behind: the Fediverse. This is a collection of free, open-source, federated social media platforms, like Mastodon, Pixelfed, and Loops, that communicate with each other. Think of it like email. If you have Gmail and I have a different email provider, we can still send each other mail. We aren’t walled off in our own gardens the way most social media users are today.
It can be quite an undertaking to consider and join new social media platforms, especially if they don’t work exactly like the platforms you’re already familiar with. So, in an effort to encourage more adoption of open-source social media, I’m providing a few tips that I hope will be beneficial to anyone looking to get started, especially my fellow authors.
Step 1: Join Mastodon. I will note that it’s not required to join Mastodon if you want to join one of the other apps. People from Mastodon can follow you on Pixelfed or Loops. That said, Mastodon is something like the main hub for text-based conversation in the Fediverse. It will be familiar to you if you prefer services like Threads, old Twitter, etc.
Notably, when you join Mastodon, you’ll choose which server you’d like to belong to. You do not have to join the default server (mastodon.social), though there’s nothing wrong with doing so. Personally, I chose mas.to for its brevity. There are also niche servers that are more focused on specific categories like art, writing, or specific geographic locations. Each server has its own rules, so be sure to review them before joining. But rest assured you’ll be able to follow and communicate with users on any of the servers when you join.
Step 2: Get an app. If you use social media primarily from your phone like I do, you’ll want a Mastodon app. However, you do not have to use the default app provided by Mastodon. In fact, I’d encourage checking out other options like Ice Cubes (free) and Ivory (paid).
Step 3: Set up your profile and introduce yourself. This step is similar to other social platforms. Add your profile picture, bio, website links, etc. Then, make your first post (or “toot”) introducing yourself. Be sure to use the hashtag #introduction for more reach.
Step 4: Find your community. Unlike other social media platforms, Mastodon has no algorithm. That makes hashtags super important for finding people to follow. Check out the trending hashtags, and then search for some in your specific lane. For example, I followed writing-related topics like #writingcommunity, #writersofmastodon, etc.
Step 5: Consider expanding your presence on other apps. Like I’ve mentioned above, all of the platforms within the Fediverse communicate with each other. You can follow users on any of the other apps. But if you want a native experience more like Instagram or TikTok, you may enjoy using Pixelfed or Loops as your home base in the Fediverse. Getting started on these apps is similar to Mastodon, and you’ll recognize a lot of the features from the corporate social media apps you already use. Because both of these apps are newer to the ecosystem, the user bases are still growing. Joining is an opportunity to build community on these new platforms while also connecting with the larger Fediverse.
If you decide to join the Fediverse, I’d be delighted to connect with you there:
Mastodon: https://mas.to/@bradleybowen
Pixelfed: https://pixelfed.social/bradleybowen
Loops: https://loops.video/@bradleybowen
I hope this post was helpful. See you in the Fediverse!
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