General Social Media Articles

Video / Updated 08-15-2023

Social media can be a great thing, but for parents, it can also be a scary thing. How do you give your kids the freedom to enjoy social media while still protecting them from the darker side of it? In this video, Amy Lupold Bair, author of the popular parenting blog Resourceful Mommy, offers her advice for setting family rules for age-appropriate social media use, as well as how to monitor your children and what to do when a child is faced with peer criticism or cyberbullying.

Article / Updated 08-03-2023

Listen to the article:Download audio Mastodon is a decentralized social media platform that's made up of thousands of separate computers (also known as servers or instances) that have all agreed to speak the same language and share certain data. When you create your Mastodon account, you get a username, which will be tied to one of these servers. Each server in the network has its own personality — and some servers pride themselves in having no particular personality. Every server is free to join, although some may be closed to new accounts or may require that you get on a waiting list. The most difficult part of getting a Mastodon account is choosing which server to join. Fortunately, there's a Mastodon web page (shown in the image below) to help you sort through your options. You can sign up for Mastodon using the app or the website. However, signing up on the website — on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone — is easier than signing up with the app. Your very first step in getting Mastodon is to go to the Join Mastodon page. Then, click the "Get the App" link to use the app or click "Create Account" to use your web browser. Both the website and the app are free, and creating your account on one allows you to use all the features of both. If you click "Get the App," you'll be taken to a screen where you can choose to go to the Apple App Store (to download the iPhone app) or to Google Play (to download the Android app). Once you get to the app store, download and install the Mastodon app as you would with any app. Because Mastodon is based on a free and open standard, there are many apps to choose from to use Mastodon. Start with the official one, which is called Mastodon. Browsing your options When you visit the Join Mastodon page and click the "Create Account" button, you'll be taken to the Servers page, which is shown below. Many more Mastodon servers than the ones you see when you scroll down this page are available. However, the servers on joinmastodon.org follow certain rules known as the Mastodon Server Covenant, which is an agreement by the server's owner to work to keep the server free of hate speech, to back up their data daily, to have a person on call to deal with technical issues with the server, and to give users of the server at least three months’ notice before shutting down the server. Because these servers have agreed to the Server Covenant, they are seen as trustworthy, stable, and safe places to serve as your home in the Mastodon universe. Although you can't go wrong with any of the instances listed on the servers page, some will be a better fit for you than others — and that's what makes Mastodon so cool! Spend some time browsing through the different servers listed here. Note that you have several options for filtering the results — including by geographical region and topic (listed on the left side of the screen) and by legal structure, sign-up speed, and language (selected from drop-down lists at the top), as shown below. Once you've found a server or two that sound like places where you'd like to hang out and call your home base, the first potentially make-or-break characteristic of the server is the sign-up speed, which is how fast it will take for you to get an account. Understanding sign-up speed When you browse the list of servers, you'll see two types of buttons: "Apply for an Account" button and "Create Account." The "Create Account" button means that the server has instant signup: You can have a new account on that server in the amount of time it takes for you to choose a username and a password. Servers with an "Apply for an Account" button require that new accounts be approved by an administrator. This approval may take only a few minutes or a day. If you're super-excited to start using Mastodon, go with one of the servers that have the blue "Create Account" button. Don't worry too much about picking the perfect server. Choosing a server doesn't have to be permanent. You can move your account (and all of your followers!) to another server easily after you sign up. Reading the rules Regardless of whether you choose to apply for an account or go with a server that has instant account creation, check out the rules of your chosen server before you commit. To see a server's rules, first click the "Create Account" or "Apply for an Account" button to go to the server. Once on the server, you'll see a description of the server on the left, with the name of the server administrator and the number of users. Below the server information, click "Learn More" to read more about the server, including its code of conduct, which describes the guidelines for how users are expected to behave while using the server. Rather than having a complicated set of rules that try to make the greatest number of people happy and end up pleasing no one (such as what centralized platforms like Twitter and Facebook must do), each Mastodon server sets specific rules and the conduct expected from users. If you don't like the code of conduct on one server, check out other servers until you find one with a code of conduct more in keeping with your beliefs. Previewing a server When you sign up using a web browser, many of the servers listed at joinmastodon.org allow you to browse the content on the server before joining. If you click to the server and see posts, rather than immediately seeing a sign-up or login page, you've come to one of these. To see the content posted by the local users of the server, click the "Local" link on the right side of the page. The posts listed under "Local" are by people who would be your neighbors if you were to join this server. Are they talking about things you're interested in? If so, this may be the perfect server for you! Meeting the admin Another way to choose a server is to find out more about the person running it. Every server prominently displays the person in charge of keeping the server running and enforcing the server's rules. Click their profile from the server's home page or from the server's "About" page to read more about them and to see the things they're interested in and what they post. On Mastodon, the admin sets the tone for the server. If the admin seems like someone you'd like to hang out with, that's a good indication that you've found a home. Seeing why smaller is better A server might have just a handful of members to many thousands. Servers with a smaller number of users are vital to keeping the entire universe interesting and avoiding a monoculture. Smaller servers also tend to have stronger personalities than larger servers. And smaller servers are often less prone to slowing down because they're less likely to get a lot of traffic. Because every server allows access to the other servers, you have nothing to lose by going with a smaller one. In the same way that you're more likely to make friends in a small community group versus an international club with millions of members, joining a smaller Mastodon server makes you a bigger fish because the pond is smaller.

Article / Updated 04-14-2023

On the left side of the Twitter Account page, you’ll notice lots of links. Each one of those links has settings that can improve the time you spend on the Twitter platform. Here’s a short overview of some of what you can set in Twitter. Privacy and Safety is the best area for being sure you have a pleasant time on Twitter. Here you can make decisions as to how much contact you want from Twitter and from those with whom you connect on the site. Just be sure to read anything you are agreeing to before you give permission. Here’s a few things to consider: Don’t protect your Tweets; this makes them visible only to those whom you follow. If you set this, someone (perhaps an old friend) will find you through search, but can’t see what you’re sharing. People get to know you and about you by reading your Tweets. Twitter is a public forum, so be careful what you say (or are willing to defend or argue). Never post anything on Twitter that you wouldn’t want to see printed in your local newspaper. More than one celebrity has done this at one time or another and regretted it. You can delete Tweets, but they stay in the public timeline from the time you post until the time you delete them, and someone might take a screen shot. Why add a location to your Tweets? Unless you want the public to know every place you are, leave this option blank. Address book. Address books are tricky if you want to keep your contacts private. If you uploaded every contact you have, you might find some on Twitter and compromise your friends’ privacy. Direct Messages are private messages that you access in a different area from the public timeline. There’s a lot of strangers out there. You can opt to receive Direct Messages from anyone or not. Send/Receive read receipts. If you read a private, Direct Message and choose not to respond, it could be considered a breach of etiquette. So you turn this option off and answer messages in your own time. The Safety area. This covers sensitive content and Tweet media settings, which allow you to label your media for the appropriate viewers, and select whose media appears on your Twitter home page. If you prefer not to see possibly offensive images, leave Display Media That May Contain Sensitive Content unselected. If you plan on posting some racy pictures, select the Mark my Media as Containing Sensitive Content check box — to protect the innocent. A most important Twitter setting Buried subtly below the very prominent Manage Your Contacts bar is an innocent-looking category called Personalization and Data. There’s no free lunch on the Internet. If you followed any of the very public brou-ha-ha over the Facebook Cambridge Analytics scandal, this is where those permissions can leave you open. Next to the bold phrase Allow Some, click the word Edit. The page that opens here transparently shows you where and how your data might be shared. (This advice is relevant on other platforms as well.) Personalized Ads. This means that the ads you see on Twitter would be based on your interests. Twitter knows your interests because of the words you share on the platform. For example, if you talk about dogs, you might see pet food ads; talk about a garden and you could see ads from florists or gardening suppliers; talk about politicians and you may see political ads. Get it? You can opt in or not right here. Personalize based on your devices. This option gets a bit trickier. When you’re on Twitter, they obviously can see what you comment on and how you feel about things. Know this about your devices, this is one thing you can’t control: Every browser or app you use on any device accesses the web via its own IP address set by the Internet provider. The IP address doesn’t expose you personally, but it would indicate that, say, someone from Atlanta, Georgia is visiting a website at a certain time, on an iPhone using the iOS operating system (and what version). What you can control with this setting is whether you give Twitter permission to follow you around the web for further information on your interests. Personalize on the places you’ve been. This permission allows Twitter to serve you ads that may be relevant when you are away from home. This can be a good thing when you’re traveling, like getting an ad from a local restaurant. Remember that because when you are on a mobile device, websites can tell where you are anyway. Track where you see Twitter content across the web. Data (not personalized — meaning they don’t know your name, Twitter ID, email address, or phone number) will be used when you browse the Internet to serve up ads on websites that match your interests. Share your data with Twitter’s business partners. This generally means they sell. (A business needs to make money, right?) Twitter might “share” device-level data (like that IP address), demographics about you, your interests, and what ads you’ve viewed (and/or taken action on). Again, as in the paragraph prior, your actual personal information will not be “shared.” Revisit these permissions occasionally on all platforms to see what changes have been made and keep up on any changes in Twitter Privacy.

Article / Updated 03-27-2023

The Internet, especially social media, has some mysterious words of its own that are not always understood by those over 30. Understanding (and using) these acronyms may help you chip away at a possible bias. Plus, it’s an eye-opener when you understand the secret (ever-changing) language of internet slang kids use today. These internet slang terms are for intermittent usage; don’t use them too often or you’ll be deemed uncool. It would be easy to list a hundred, but for brevity’s sake, here are some favorite Internet slang phrases. AMA: Ask Me Anything. This started on a website called Reddit, where an authority on a subject takes open questions. BAE: Before Anything Else. This acronym is generally used when referring to one’s sweetie or dear one. DM: Direct Message (also PM = Private Message). The default way to give permission for someone to message you in private. ELI5: Explain Like I’m 5. When you want a simple, short explanation of something. Epic: An adjective to describe anything huge or amazing. Facepalm: Reaction when someone says or does something incredibly stupid. ICYMI: In Case You Missed It. When you mention something that you think most people already know or you have said it before. Manners count. IMHO: In my humble opinion. Use when you’re trying to put across a point, but you don’t want to be pushy about it. IRL: In Real Life. Real life versus Internet life. JSYK: Just So You Know. This is the new way of writing FYI. Lulz: For the laughs. A derivative of the longstanding LOL (Laughing Out Loud), meaning you did something just for fun. Lurker: Someone who follows a chat or a forum but never comments. (This is a perfectly acceptable practice.) Meme: Superimposing a snarky comment (or captioning an image) on a photo. I would show you a screen shot, but they are generally NSFW. You can make your own memes with this meme generator. NSFW: Not Safe For Work. Anything marked NSFW should not be viewed on a big screen in a public environment. Photobomb: When someone (human or animal) unexpectedly appears in a photo. Like when your cousin Larry jumped in between you and your Bae while taking a selfie. PWNED: When you’ve been PWNED, you’ve been defeated or humiliated and your opponent has victory over you. Also used as a noun: PWNAGE. SMH: Shaking my Head. Conveys disappointment in something someone does or says. TBT: Throwback Thursday. When you want to share something from the past, do it on a Thursday and tag it #TBT. TL;DR: Too Long; Didn’t Read. If you share an article that seems really valuable, but it went into minute detail, you might not have time to read the entire thing. Mark your comment TL;DR. TROLL: Trolls are people who post to annoy or anger you. They can be terribly annoying. The best advice I have is, “Don’t feed the trolls.” Just block them and move forward. Well played: A response when someone does something particularly well. YOLO: You Only Live Once. Your excuse to do something incredibly wacky. There are many Internet slang dictionaries on the web, but view at your own risk (just for lulz).

Article / Updated 02-17-2023

Listen to the article:Download audio As Mastodon has become more popular, millions of people have flocked to it from Twitter. Perhaps you, too, first heard about Mastodon on Twitter. As a migrant from Twitter to Mastodon, you're in good company. Finding members of your Twitter flock on Mastodon isn't difficult, and it's a great way to get a head start with building a following. If someone considered you follow-worthy on Twitter, they will on Mastodon, too. Several tools have been created for finding Mastodon accounts of your Twitter followers. If you haven't deleted your Twitter account, you can use any (or all) of these tools. Using Twitodon to find friends on Mastodon One service to help you find your Twitter followers on Mastodon is Twitodon. This site works by linking to your Twitter account and your Mastodon account and comparing the list of accounts you follow on Twitter with accounts on Mastodon that have also used Twitodon. If matches are found, Twitodon will give you a file you can import into your Mastodon account. Follow these steps to use Twitodon: Make sure you're logged into both your Twitter account and your Mastodon account. Go to Twitodon and click the link under the "Get Started" header to log into your Twitter account. A window opens, asking you to authorize Twitodon to access your Twitter account. Click the button to authorize Twitodon. You return to Twitodon and its Step 1 has been crossed off. Enter your Mastodon server's address (including the https://) in the field under Twitodon's Step 2, as shown in Figure 1, and then click Sign In. For example, if your Mastodon account is on mastodon.social, you'd enter https://mastodon.social. A screen appears asking you to authorize Twitodon to access your Mastodon account. Click Authorize. You return to Twitodon and Step 2 has been crossed off. Watch the number of scanned users go up as Twitodon processes the list, as shown in Figure 2. We hope the number of matches found go up as well! Because Twitodon can find only users who have also used Twitodon, don't be surprised if it doesn't come back with many or any results. The good news is that as more people migrate from Twitter and use Twitodon, it will be able to make more matches! So, it may be a good idea to try Twitodon again every so often as long as you keep your Twitter account. When Twitodon finishes scanning, click the link in Twitodon's Step 3 to download a list of the matches that were found. Twitodon's Step 4 (revoking Twitodon's authorization to access your Twitter followers) is optional, and we're going to skip it. Doing so will make it easier to come back and check Twitodon periodically in the future. Click the link under Twitodon's Step 5 to go to the Import page on your Mastodon instance, or click Preferences, Import and Export, and then Import. You see a screen similar to the one in Figure 3. Under Import Type, choose Following List (it should be selected by default). Choose the Merge radio button (which should also be selected by default). Merging means that you'll still follow everyone you follow on Mastodon before you import the matches found by Twitodon. Click the Choose File button and locate the file you downloaded from Twitodon. The file is named new_mastodon_follows.csv and should be in your Downloads folder. Click the Upload button on Mastodon's Import page. After a moment, you'll see a message that your file was uploaded and will be processed. Depending on the size of the file you imported, it may take a few minutes or longer for the file to be processed and for the new users to be imported. After a few minutes, go to your profile page and check whether your following number has gone up. As you follow the people you followed on Twitter, they'll get notifications and some of them may decide to follow you back. Using Fedifinder Fedifinder can scan your entire Twitter account, including accounts you follow, accounts that follow you, and your Twitter lists to find Twitter users who list their fediverse address in their Twitter profiles. Because it scans your lists and followers and doesn't depend on matched users already having used it, Fedifinder is more likely to find results than other automated programs for finding other Mastodon users. Follow these steps to use Fedifinder: Make sure you're logged in to both Twitter and Mastodon. Go to Twitter and edit your Twitter profile to add your fediverse address in one of the following places: The description The location The website address You can add your Mastodon address also to a pinned Tweet. Your fediverse address is your Mastodon server name followed by a slash, followed by your Mastodon username. It's the same as the link to your profile page on your instance. For example: hachyderm.io/@chrisminnick. Go to Fedifinder again and click the Authorize Twitter button at the top of the screen. Follow the instructions to authorize Fedifinder to access your Twitter data. Fedifinder scans your Twitter account to find fediverse addresses and starts showing you the results, as shown in Figure 4. Scroll down the page and click the link next to any Twitter lists you follow, and then click the Scan Followers link. After all the scans have finished, click the Export CSV with Found Handles link. CSV, short for comma-separated values, is a way of storing lists of data in text files so they can be imported into other systems. Go to the Import page on your Mastodon instance (click Preferences, Import and Export, Import) and import the resulting file (fedifinder_account.csv) in the same way you imported the file from Twitodon. Inviting friends and family If you have a fairly large Twitter following and follow a large number of Twitter accounts, you may have acquired some new followers and follows from using Twitodon and Fedifinder. But not everyone you want to follow is on both Mastodon and Twitter. To get more people to join you on Mastodon, you need to invite them. Mastodon makes inviting people to join your Mastodon server easy. Plus, when you use Mastodon's invite feature to invite people, signing up will be easier for them than it was for you because the link you give them will take them directly to the same local server you use. If your server allows users to create invitations, you can get an invitation link by clicking Preferences and then Invite People. You'll see the Invite People page, which is shown in Figure 5. The Invite People page allows you to create individual links, limited-use links, and links that expire. Unless you want to have a limited number of followers or you want to be able to track who uses which links, the best way to use Invite People is with the following settings: Set Max Number of Uses to No Limit Set Expire After to Never Select the Invite to Follow Your Account check box Once you've configured these settings, click the Generate Invite Link button. A text box with an invitation address appears, as shown in Figure 6. Tap or click the Copy button to copy this link. Here are a few ideas for how you can use your Invite link: Paste it into a post on Facebook. Put it in your profile on Twitter. Paste it into your Instagram profile. Email it to your friends and family and tell them to join you on Mastodon. Send it in a text message. Add it to a website you own. When someone follows the link on their phone, tablet, or computer, they'll see the same sign up page you saw when you first signed up for Mastodon. Plus, when someone signs up using your link, you'll find out about it, the number of uses next to your invite link will go up, and you'll gain a follower!

Article / Updated 02-16-2023

Listen to the article:Download audio The chaos surrounding Twitter after Elon Musk acquired it in October 2022 led many Twitter users to begin checking out other social media platforms, including Mastodon. Here, we'll go over some of the major differences between the two platforms. The first thing to know about Mastodon is that it isn’t just one site, like Twitter.com and Facebook.com. Mastodon is made up of a galaxy of sites, and the first choice you’ll make when you decide to create an account is what star (or instance) in this galaxy of sites to call home. Each of these sites runs the Mastodon software (the common platform). Once you have a home on a site running the Mastodon software, you can connect with people on other sites running Mastodon. Many people arrive on Twitter looking to raise their public profile, gain millions of followers, and go viral. Certainly some people have become media pundits and celebrities by way of their Twitter posts. On Mastodon, however, being sociable, informative, and authentic is more important. A Mastodon instance is better thought of as a neighborhood rather than a stage. You don’t have to be smart-alecky to be respected. In addition, before getting an account on a Mastodon instance, you sign on to a code of conduct. Although the code of conduct can go into detail regarding what is and isn't allowed, the code is often simply a lengthy version of “while you’re on here, be nice.” Mastodon is a home, not a single site If you want to tweet, you go to Twitter.com, get an account, agree to the terms of service (whether you read all that legalese or not), and start tweeting. Twitter may not ask much of you as a user, but you pay a price. You have no stake in Twitter as a company, except as an unpaid content contributor. Twitter polls run by the CEO aren't binding, and wouldn't be, even if a majority of participants were stockholders. Every Mastodon server instance is an island to itself but interconnected. Instance administrators and moderators are not gods and can't make any decisions beyond that instance. That’s true even for founder Eugen Rochko. The vast majority of Mastodon sites seek to be safe and friendly spaces for all kinds of users. You should feel like you’re at home here. Mastodon is built to serve its community Mastodon is not driven by its financial bottom line nor the whims of venture capitalists, Wall Street traders, and hedge fund managers. It's driven to serve its users and the community. If the founder or his heirs were to sell the mastodon.social site, where Mastodon was born, each user could easily move to another Mastodon instance, taking their posts and followers with them. If you’ve found a home with a group of admins and moderators that serve you and the community at large, consider helping to keep the servers (and the community) running with a financial contribution that fits your budget. Algorithms aren't allowed on Mastodon Twitter started out as a place where you read the tweets of the people you followed in reverse-chronological order (as you do in blogs). But as the service grew, Twitter developed algorithms to figure out what you liked and shared on the service. The purpose of the algorithm was to keep you scrolling through your feed. You got what the algorithm thought you wanted, but you also saw more ads as the session continued. More eyeballs on ads, more money for Twitter. As politicians and politically oriented people found a way to get followers, raise money, and gain influence on the service, ordinary users found themselves in a filter bubble, where they saw only things with which they agreed. Debate, where it existed at all, became toxic. Misinformation flourished. Some people started calling Twitter a hellscape because of all the angry tweets that the algorithm promoted into people’s feeds. No Twitter user ever got to opt-out of the algorithm’s role in managing their feeds. There was never a vote among users to implement the algorithm when it was first developed. Programmers from outside the company couldn’t review the algorithm to determine its effect on people’s emotions. In contrast, Mastodon displays every post from every user and hashtag you follow. You may still spend hours scrolling through interesting posts by fascinating people, but at least you know that Mastodon won’t try to manipulate you to stay longer on the platform. Users aren't tracked on Mastodon The same forces (sometimes called surveillance capitalism) that created algorithms also created the cookie, that tiny slice of code that lives in your browser and tracks your movements across the platform and elsewhere. The cookie’s owner aims to understand the things you’re interested in or curious about — the better to sell your social graph to advertisers. The Mastodon focus on privacy actively discourages cookies. Nearly every instance offers strict rules on such behavior, and should an instance permit it, that instance would likely be blocked by most other Mastodon instances. Don’t bet on this changing anytime soon. Ads aren't acceptable (yet) on Mastodon The initial burst of enthusiasm for Mastodon came when Twitter appeared to be placing its financial stability on selling more advertising on the platform. The Great Mastodon Migration of 2022, which came next, was made up of users and advertisers who didn’t want to be associated with Twitter's new owner. On Mastodon, most codes of conduct discourage excessive advertising, and what’s excessive has mostly counted in single digits. The exceptions are the online equivalent of yard sales, art shows, community theater, and musical performances. The Mastodon focus on community-building frowns on personal branding at least as much as on corporate branding. However, businesses aren't banned, and if you’re in business, you can post about it all you want. What won’t fly are targeted ads based on trackers and algorithms, as noted previously. Mastodon isn’t perfect, but its ideals are high. Welcome to the fediverse! The fediverse is a collection of websites and social networks that, in some ways, looks back fondly on the early days of the World Wide Web. When Sir Tim Berners-Lee created the web, he envisioned it as a collaboration tool, with sites offering read-write access to any visitor. Aside from wiki sites (such as Wikipedia) and blogs that accept reader comments, today’s web is largely a space for one-way communication. Mastodon encourages its users to collaborate by putting the focus on conversation and discussion. It’s easy to participate in a conversation by selecting the post's reply icon. The Fediverse expands that idea beyond just Mastodon into other services. The fediverse, which is a combination of federated and universe, got its name for the federated connections between independent websites on the social web. The foundation of the fediverse, and Mastodon as well, is the ActivityPub protocol, recognized as a web standard by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Developers use the standard to power a variety of federated alternatives for organizing events, sharing music, and just hanging out. The boring, technical way to describe the ActivityPub standard is that it “provides a client-to-server application programming interface (API) for creating, updating and deleting content, as well as a federated server to server API for delivering notifications and subscribing to content.” Mastodon first used a protocol called OStatus, an open standard that enables microblogging, but switched to ActivityPub in 2017. For the last decade or so, the IndieWeb movement has been building some of the social web standards that power Mastodon, especially the ActivityPub protocol, but for individual websites. IndieWeb focuses on your ability to control your content and connect with the people you want to connect with, with no one using your stuff to get others to sell you things you may not want. Do not confuse fediverse with metaverse! The metaverse started as a creation in the mind of speculative fiction author Neal Stephenson in his fantastic novel Snow Crash. In the novel, the metaverse served as the escape hatch from the dystopia in which most people lived, where the only jobs were in high tech and high-speed pizza delivery. The dystopia was the society. Today, the metaverse is a virtual reality that Facebook (excuse us, Meta) billionaire Mark Zuckerberg wants to use to make even more money. The fediverse is a much more pleasant place, where the users rule. And if profits are even a consideration, they come after the people who participate. Understanding federation When you’re starting out with Mastodon, wrapping your head around the idea of a federation can be maddening. Not to overwhelm you with community metaphors, but think about the following facets of neighborhoods: Life might be pretty much the same from neighborhood to neighborhood, but some places have different social rules. Violating those rules can get you in trouble. In some neighborhoods, you must live there for many years before you can even call yourself a resident! Although your neighborhood might have regular elections for city council members and other leaders, you might also have a person active in the community who is so respected that they’re called the mayor of the neighborhood. If you have an active neighborhood association, they probably have events to raise money for various programs to improve life in the neighborhood. While the city government pays for a lot of things (and usually has taxing power), neighborhood associations often pay for things such as flowers in common areas. You can change your residence from one neighborhood to another without getting permission from the city or the neighborhoods involved (condominium association boards notwithstanding). All this is true also in the virtual world of Mastodon: Every Mastodon instance (neighborhood) has a code of conduct that you have to agree to before you join (move in). Violating the code of conduct can get you in trouble (a suspension or worse). Regardless of whether your instance has a governing board, the administrator is definitely the permanent mayor, in charge of keeping things going. While your instance administration can’t tax you (yet) to keep the servers running, you do have an obligation to help out if you can. As the mother instance, https://mastodon.social helps other instances financially, but each independent instance has to keep the lights on. Aside from a disciplinary situation, it’s easy to change your Mastodon neighborhood — and bring all your friends with you. If you ever need to move your account to another instance, there's a Mastodon page with instructions.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-16-2023

Listen to the article:Download audio Even though thousands of people join Mastodon every day, the number-one concern of new users is that they can't make the shift over from Twitter entirely because many of the people they follow on Twitter haven't set up a Mastodon account yet. Here, you discover some of the best ways to start meeting and engaging with new people on Mastodon. Another concern of new Mastodon users is that it's different from using other social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. At first, these differences may seem difficult to adapt to. But with the tips covered here, using Mastodon will soon become second nature.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 09-02-2022

Twitch is an exciting entertainment platform. With Twitch, you can watch broadcasters show off their talents as they live-stream themselves playing video games, playing music, showing off their hobbies, and so much more. And you can set up your own channel and start broadcasting your own content. The great thing about Twitch is that you can interact with your audience while streaming, which builds a sense of community.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-23-2022

The idea behind the Cheat Sheet is to give you a quick shortcut on what you may want to jump into, research further, or implement straight away when getting started on Discord. The Cheat Sheet is also a quick reminder of details you may want within reach like “What can I integrate with my Discord?” or “What were those tips on interviewing guests?” Your Cheat Sheet is a flash card for what you need at a glance.

Article / Updated 10-06-2021

If you are an old bebo.com user, then you may have had a heck of a time trying to keep your account content when the social networking platform was sold to AOL (America Online) and then bought back by the original creators, who relaunched in February 2021. During the transition from Bebo Inc., to AOL and back again, many users found it difficult to retrieve their uploaded blogs, photos, and posts. If you are or were a diehard bebo.com user and logged in regularly to keep your account active, you probably want to maintain and save all of your old online content. Due to the transition to and from AOL, some users stopped visiting the site regularly. Consequently, their accounts have been disabled and removed from the Bebo archive. Accessing the archives If your account was still active prior to the Bebo transformation into a social messaging application, chances are you will be able to retrieve all of your lost blogs, photos, and posts. To access Bebo’s archives, follow these steps: To access the old content, you first must download the Bebo application from either the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. After you have installed this application, launch Bebo and follow the steps to create a new account. Do not use the same credentials with your new account as the old ones you used on bebo.com. Reports of old accounts being deactivated have been noted, and some additional users have lost their archived material due to the same username/password combination causing confusion on the Bebo application’s servers. After you have created your new account, you can send a hashtag message to anyone as follows: #oldphotos. Instantly a window will pop-up asking for your old Bebo account information. Enter your username or e-mail and password to the old Bebo account and press continue. Make sure you are putting in your old bebo.com account info and not the new info you just created! E-mail then will be sent to you via the e-mail associated with your account containing links to all your old bebo.com content. Bebo Inc., claims #oldphotos doesn’t work for just old photos but also for old posts and blogs as well and is trying to rectify the issues caused by AOL. If you are one of the lucky ones and get to keep your archived content, great! Otherwise, be prepared to say goodbye to the content in case it is lost forever, and perhaps next time consider a hard copy backup directly on your computer, external hard drive, or memory card for safe keeping. Good Luck!