Okay, so I never used Twitter but figured I'd give Mastodon a try.
But what do you even do there? Is it just a place where you wait for specific people to shout into the void? And then what?
Also how do I even find interesting subjects or people to follow?

save

path: 0 2033322, hotness: undefined, score: 30, children: 29

nick 17 points 3 years ago

Twitter/microblogging is a weird thing in general but you seem to have the idea. It can be useful for following events or people who write interesting things.

Mastodon hashtags are the way to discover conversations and people to follow, they go across instances in search.

save

path: 0 2033322 2033946, hotness: undefined, score: 17, children: 7

freecandy 1 point 3 years ago

Those words don't make sense to someone new to this

save

path: 0 2033322 2033946 2037075, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 6

nick 3 points 3 years ago

I feel like twitter has been around long enough that people that want to use a platform like it will be aware of the concept of a hashtag for finding posts on a topic, etc.

save

path: 0 2033322 2033946 2037075 2049197, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0

figaro 1 point 3 years ago

Lol I totally empathize with you!

Basically I use mastodon as a feed for entertaining shit that I can easily interact with. I follow a bunch of artists and comedians. I scroll down and am entertained. If I want to be extra nice, I leave a comment and tell the artist they are super cool. People usually reply back, which is nice!

And because it is part of the fediverse, you can follow people from all kinds of apps! It's pretty cool :)

save

path: 0 2033322 2033946 2037075 2048225, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

seitanic 1 point 3 years ago

If you know how to use Twitter, then you aren't "new to this".

save

path: 0 2033322 2033946 2037075 2058871, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 2

freecandy 2 points 3 years ago

The person said they never used twitter

save

path: 0 2033322 2033946 2037075 2058871 2059457, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1

colo_lee 1 point 3 years ago

@freecandy @nick I understood the "weird thing in general" part ...

save

path: 0 2033322 2033946 2037075 2061103, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

Zyratoxx 4 points 3 years ago

I just love the fact that Mark Ruffalo is using Mastodon

save

path: 0 2033322 2048223, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

nils 4 points 3 years ago

Sometimes it's useful following specific projects or organizations you're interested in to be notified when anything interesting is going on. In a way similar to an RSS feed I suppose

save

path: 0 2033322 2036054, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 5

freecandy 3 points 3 years ago

Whats an RSS feed?

save

path: 0 2033322 2036054 2037053, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 2

nils 5 points 3 years ago

Essentially a web feed to have a single timeline from multiple sources. Think of it as Google News but you manually choose the sources and it's chronological.

save

path: 0 2033322 2036054 2037053 2037294, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0

tja 1 point 3 years ago

One of the best things the web has to offer

save

path: 0 2033322 2036054 2037053 2058096, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

ArcaneSlime 2 points 3 years ago

They are also RSS feeds by default, just append .rss to the back of the profile address and add to your feed reader. For example, to tune into Elvira Mistress of the Dark in your rss reader the link would be:

https://universeodon.com/@TheRealElvira.rss

save

path: 0 2033322 2036054 2046610, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1

z3rOR0ne 1 point 3 years ago

We need this for Lemmy communities.

save

path: 0 2033322 2036054 2046610 2077421, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

the_blackwell_ninja 3 points 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded @Troll I just follow a bunch of people and hashtags. Anybody suggests following something or someone I do. It's easy to unfollow if you end up not liking the content from someone or some hashtag.

save

path: 0 2033322 2072618, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0

bytebro 2 points 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded @Troll I found that posting about stuff that interests me, following bright people who respond, and using hashtags is not a bad way to start. And check the local feed and the fedi feed from time to time to find new people to interact with.
#welcome

save

path: 0 2033322 2061064, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

Sassafrazz 2 points 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded @Troll You can find topics using hashtags (#).

https://fedi.tips/

save

path: 0 2033322 2063449, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

Blazingflames6073 2 points 3 years ago

I always had the same issue the few times I tried to use mastodon and twitter.

save

path: 0 2033322 2047766, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

PGBeattie 2 points 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded @Troll shout into the void... Or voice an opinion... If enough of us voice an opinion it might change things... the alternative is keeping silent and that is not mentally healthy

save

path: 0 2033322 2061794, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

josh 2 points 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded @Troll just keep posting and follow some interesting people you'll get it

save

path: 0 2033322 2061028, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

jik 1 point 3 years ago

save

path: 0 2033322 2061065, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

Regez 1 point 3 years ago

save

path: 0 2033322 2071447, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

planish 1 point 3 years ago

Yes?

You can also shout into the void yourself. Eventually somebody might notice and reply.

You can watch the local or federated timelines and if someone says something interesting you can follow them and reply. Or you if you get linked from elsewhere to a good post you can follow the author. Or you can see a list of popular hashtags (or look up a hashtag) and see posts in them, or post to them.

What else is there supposed to be to do there?

save

path: 0 2033322 2059537, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

sciamiko 1 point 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded @Troll

https://mstdn.social/@feditips/110827772311097668

save

path: 0 2033322 2071448, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

hopeward 1 point 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded Assuming the instance you joined is some kind of community that you’re a part of, check out the Local feed. Other people on your server may show you some good stuff and/or be worth following.

save

path: 0 2033322 2071467, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

Eurydice 1 point 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded absolutely wild that I'm reading your lemmy post on mastodon as we speak

save

path: 0 2033322 2071462, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

WriterOfMinds 1 point 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded For starters, hashtags seem to be a bigger deal here than on Twitter. You can follow hashtags for their themed content, or just search them to find people to follow. And if you hashtag your posts by category, people will actually notice.

save

path: 0 2033322 2071479, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

notsimon 1 point 3 years ago

@Cuteblooded ahhah, if you stare into the void, the void stares back at you. (just reposted your lemmy post to the void/mastodon 😅)

save

path: 0 2033322 2071546, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

MyFeetOwnMySoul 14 points 3 years ago

My favorite metal band??

save

path: 0 2026226, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 1

deanne 2 points 3 years ago

I THINK THAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KILL ME

save

path: 0 2026226 2068704, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

Kizaing 13 points 3 years ago

I'm in this picture and I don't like it

save

path: 0 2046436, hotness: undefined, score: 13, children: 0

sp00nix 13 points 3 years ago

I saw them when they opened for Primus. Killer show.

save

path: 0 2040068, hotness: undefined, score: 13, children: 0

Aarrodri 11 points 3 years ago

save

path: 0 2078019, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 1

Troll 1 point 3 years ago

save

path: 0 2078019 2079831, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

SmartDebbie 9 points 3 years ago

I thought we're gonna talk about a music band, aren't we?

save

path: 0 2061097, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 1

Climinteedus 4 points 3 years ago

I saw them for the first time during the Unheavenly Skye tour.

My first time seeing Coheed too!

It was one hell of a show.

save

path: 0 2061097 2065413, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

Thedogspaw 6 points 3 years ago

No we worship lemmy in this house mastodon is a harassy

save

path: 0 2059544, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1

Hadriscus 2 points 3 years ago

a harassing heresy ? defo sounds like the witnesses

save

path: 0 2059544 2062614, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

ricecake 6 points 3 years ago

save

path: 0 2035704, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 8

SmoothSurfer 2 points 3 years ago

They are kinda different

save

path: 0 2035704 2035853, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 4

ricecake 1 point 3 years ago

save

path: 0 2035704 2035853 2036084, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 3

DmMacniel 9 points 3 years ago

One is a microblobbing service and the other is a content aggregation service. And then there is Kbin which is both.

save

path: 0 2035704 2035853 2036084 2036389, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0

smolyeet 6 points 3 years ago

Lemmy is Reddit. Mastodon is Twitter.

save

path: 0 2035704 2035853 2036084 2039527, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1

Cover_czar 1 point 3 years ago

Lemmy Not reddit Mastodon Not twitter thats how i wrote it in my about

save

path: 0 2035704 2035853 2036084 2039527 2046897, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

Inventis 1 point 3 years ago

I kinda wish they were both integrated.

save

path: 0 2035704 2047672, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 2

tja 4 points 3 years ago

Since they are part of the fediverse and use the same underlying technology, they are integrated! E.g. users on a mastodon instance can follow lemmy communities

save

path: 0 2035704 2047672 2058181, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

veroxii 2 points 3 years ago

You mean like kbin?

save

path: 0 2035704 2047672 2057600, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

JeSuisUnHombre 6 points 3 years ago

I'm having fun there, though there are a good amount of spammers there already.

save

path: 0 2022688, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0

Astrealix 4 points 3 years ago

Problem for me is that Twitter for me is about the official announcement-y things which aren't leaving lol. It's not great, but for football news all the journalists are still there, and so are the clubs.

save

path: 0 2023383, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 6

kspatlas 6 points 3 years ago

Look up nitter

save

path: 0 2023383 2028659, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0

squiblet 3 points 3 years ago

The way to get that to change is to not go to Twitter, and if any of those people have another outlet, read and interact with that one.

save

path: 0 2023383 2025152, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 4

Astrealix 1 point 3 years ago

Problem is, they don't, lol.

save

path: 0 2023383 2025152 2025384, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 3

asdfasdfasdf 1 point 3 years ago

You could suggest they go to Mastodon and reference other companies which do. There are probably easy integrations for them so that they can just automate their tweets to both Mastodon and Twitter at the same time.

save

path: 0 2023383 2025152 2025384 2060465, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 2

Astrealix 1 point 3 years ago

who do you think I am lol and what influence

save

path: 0 2023383 2025152 2025384 2060465 2062291, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1

joelfromaus 4 points 3 years ago

I know all about Mastodon. Been doing it just about everyday for years, sometimes twice a day!

save

path: 0 2035967, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

Roundcat 2 points 3 years ago

I think I'd rather keep Mastodon small and quirky. The moment it starts to feel like twitter, I'm off.

save

path: 0 2022574, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 9

Sneptaur 11 points 3 years ago

Nah it'll never be like Twitter. Those users will all line up for Bluesky

save

path: 0 2022574 2023301, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 6

HikingVet 8 points 3 years ago

Or threads.

save

path: 0 2022574 2023301 2023445, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0

AlmostDachshund 1 point 3 years ago

I feel Bluesky already lost its hype. Should've been launched near the announcement. I believe Threads it's where people would go if leaving X.

save

path: 0 2022574 2023301 2060390, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1

Sneptaur 1 point 3 years ago

It seems to be growing pretty fast, and importantly has celebrities and such. It's going to replace Twitter, but Mastodon has staying power that BSky doesn't.

save

path: 0 2022574 2023301 2060390 2075936, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

h_a_r_u_k_i 1 point 3 years ago

Out of the loop: why there is so much hype for Bluesky?

save

path: 0 2022574 2023301 2028802, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 2

tja 1 point 3 years ago

save

path: 0 2022574 2023301 2028802 2059121, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

Sneptaur 1 point 3 years ago

Jack Dorsey made it, and it's kind of federated. Might even hook into Mastodon in the future.

save

path: 0 2022574 2023301 2028802 2075973, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

baropithecus 7 points 3 years ago

At the risk of sounding like a door-to-door fediverse evangelist: the good thing about mastodon is you can always move to a small and quirky instance, or even start your own small and quirky instance and defederate from any parts that you don't like.

save

path: 0 2022574 2026432, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0

Erikatharsis 4 points 3 years ago

Honestly, I feel like Mastodon is kinda never going to be like Twitter, even if its user count were to grow by two orders of magnitude. There are several reasons why, as the other replies point out, but the most important (IMO) is that Mastodon is just not a profit-driven platform. And if Mastodon is not a profit-driven platform, it is not designed to maximize user engagement. And if it is not designed to maximize user engagement, it is not designed to encourage toxic behavior.

save

path: 0 2022574 2027247, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

jon 1 point 3 years ago

Looking forward to Book of Mastodon, the musical

save

path: 0 2030542, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

gunnm 1 point 3 years ago

I'm like that with Nostr.

save

path: 0 2040661, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 4

ALostInquirer 1 point 3 years ago

No sir, I haven't heard of it, but would you like a waffle?