Putting aside your thoughts on Twitter’s management lately, one thing is certain is that the decentralized Mastodon (found on the “Fediverse”) is rapidly growing in popularity, with some estimates putting it with around 9 million registered users by the end of the year. That’s a sharp increase from just over a million a few months ago.
The problem with Mastodon is discovery: Finding people and topics you want to follow. Unlike Twitter, Mastodon has no algorithms and doesn’t try to recommend anything to you. Your feed is just that: A real-time, chronological list of postings from people you follow and nothing more. And while you can search for people, it only works for people on your Mastodon “instance,” that is, the server you joined (you can switch servers later, however, and keep all your followers).
There are a few ways to get around this, including the brute-force way below, where we have a running list of people and sites as recommended follows if you’re into all things technology. Unfortunately, if they’re not on your Mastodon instance, you can still follow them, but it’s tricky if you’re on the web (you have to copy, paste, and search using their web link).
You may be surprised at how many people are now actively posting on Mastodon (and enjoying it). Following the people and sites on this list is a great way to join them!
Who to follow on Mastodon?
Windows Central
Tech Sites
Tech Reporters and Personalities
Microsoft
What apps to use?
Surprisingly, there are some great app options if you’re on Android or behind a PC.
If on your Windows computer, use the website as a progressive web app (PWA) by “installing” it via Microsoft Edge. You can pin it to your Taskbar and desktop just like an app.
Another tip: On Mastodon, go to Preferences > Appearance and check to Enable advanced web interface to deliver a Tweetdeck-like experience.
On Android, the official Mastodon app is already great, but you can also use Megalodon for Mastodon, which is an offshoot of the official app, delivering way more features. Many people also like Tusky for Mastodon.
Other tricks for Mastodon
Besides going through this list, you can use third-party tools like Fedfinder, which looks at who you follow on Twitter and finds them for you on the Fediverse (Mastodon), allowing you to import the list to your Mastodon account in a few easy steps.
You can also use another third-party service called Moa.party, which lets you cross-post between Twitter and Mastodon (in either direction), which is a good trick if you’re not quite ready to jump to Mastodon full-time.
We’ll update this page with more tools and tricks as we come across them, so give it a bookmark and share it with others!
