We’re now on Mastodon!
You may not have heard much about Mastodon, but I think you will in coming months and years. It’s an alternative to Twitter that has recently gained a great deal of attention.
Fabbaloo has been using social networks for many years, and we’ve been posting our stories on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other networks that have since faded away. While we auto-post all our stories, we’re always available for questions and comments, too.
A series of recent controversial events at Twitter have caused a number of folks to leave that platform and seek other places. One of them is called “Mastodon”.
It’s an open source Twitter-like system that provides functionality very similar to Twitter, but operates in an entirely decentralized manner. To sign up for Twitter you go to Twitter, but with Mastodon you have to pick a Mastodon server to sign up. This is analogous to picking an email server, but for twitter-like functionality.
We recognize that some of our Twitter followers have made the shift to Mastodon, as the signup rates on Mastodon servers are skyrocketing in recent weeks. We want to ensure all those Mastodon users are able to easily access our stories, just as they are on other platforms. Note: we will continue to publish our stories on whatever wherever people want to read them; we are not leaving any of our existing platforms, just adding a new one today.
If You Already Have a Mastodon ID
If you already use Mastodon and want to follow Fabbaloo, simply connect with @fabbaloo.
If you want to follow us but don’t want to mess up your existing Mastodon timeline with tech stuff, considering making a second Mastodon account to follow us and other tech sources.
Thanks in advance for the follow!
If You Don’t Have a Mastodon ID
If you’re NOT on Mastodon (and I encourage you to try it out), then here’s what you do.
The first step is to choose a Mastodon server. There are hundreds available, perhaps thousands. Each operates under a loose “theme”. It might be geographic (e.g. a server in Finland catering to Finns with many people posting in that language), disciplinary (e.g. a server for historians that frequently talk history), career (e.g. a server for journalists posting news), or simply general use.
If you’re a member of a Mastodon server, you will by default see all the posts from that server, as well as all posts from other servers for people you follow. The selection of a server simply gives you a little bit better view of people towards whom may have an affinity. Any server will do, as you can follow anyone on any server — so long as it’s a reliable and well-trafficked service. Also note that you can switch servers if you really want to.
Where should someone in the 3D print space join? That’s a good question, as it depends on what you want to talk about. If you’re into 3D printing but also prioritize sports, then maybe a sports server is best.
For Fabbaloo we chose techhub.social, a large server that seems to have a lot of tech folks present. As of this writing, there doesn’t seem to be any 3D print or additive manufacturing-focused Mastodon servers at all, let alone a large one.
One way to help choose a server is to use a helpful database of Mastodon servers that lists not only their focus area, but their size. In my opinion, the larger servers have demonstrated staying power and community. A good database to find servers is Instances.social.
Once you find a server, just sign up with your email. You can use Mastodon from a web page, or more conveniently from an app. I recommend Metatext or Toot! for iOS, and Tusk for Android platforms.
Note that when you’re online you don’t have any of your previous social network, and it will initially be “quiet”. You have to find and add people. I suggest using hashtags, searches and “boosts” from others to find people worthy of following. There are also a few tools that can greatly help you find people:
- Fedifinder, a utility that scans through your Twitter follows and follower profiles to find their corresponding Mastodon ids automatically for you
- FollowGraph is a web tool to find the followers of all your Mastodon friends, and prepares a great big list of people you can also consider following
I’m sure there are other highly useful Mastodon utilities we have yet to discover.
When you’re online, give us a follow. We’re located at @[email protected]. See you there!
