I wonder would it be possible to have a #Mastodaoine open night once a week for a couple of hours to help new people (esp people from bird site migration) to find friends & get engaged in conversations? Mastodon is a lot less "live" than the bird site. Newcomers are responding to posts cross-posted from bird site & getting no response & finding it frustrating. I think lots of us being live on that # at the same time could make a difference.
If this is a stupid suggestion, please forgive me!
I'm pretty new here myself & trying to find my feet, but I'm having a lot of conversations with bird site followers, encouraging them to come over here & one of the things I'm hearing is that they set up profiles already, but found it hard to get any engagement, so I'm just wondering what might help.
@IzzyKamikaze Follow. Follow like crazy. This isn't birdsite, the algorithm isn't going to push people at you. So follow everyone in sight, and engage. You can prune back later
Conversely, something else I've found helpful is following hashtags eg the #mastodaoine one just now. It definitely helps to just follow follow follow at the start because you'll pick up their boosts and see more stuff from other people that way too.
But also: yes, an open night is a great idea!
Like I said to @Debs it's hard to find ANYTHING on #Mastodon because of a policy of no #search except #hashtags. All you can do is set filters (or is that notifications? I forget) for keywords of interest to you and hope that some post gets caught by them like flies in a cobweb. Follow @feditips for posts collecting servers or users with common themes and one might be yours.
1) use hashtags.
2) put in some effort to identify people to follow:
2a) explore the "local" feeds of interesting servers.
2b) explore who interesting people are following.
3) have a little patience.
4) post interesting content.
Also - follow hashtags! It's a really useful way (I think) of expanding the range of incoming awesomeness without seeking out individuals, at least in the first instance.
Also, engagement is different here, I find. Birdsite was all about algorithms. Here, it's about real connection and conversation. Using the Local server function is a great way to start making real connections.
Good luck and, Hi!
@IzzyKamikaze Mastodon relies on boosts to increase visibility. A boost will go to all the followers of whoever boosted it by default. Without boosts your post is only seen by your followers and anyone browsing the local timeline (where I found this post). Favourites only let the poster know you saw and liked their post but doesn't increase its visibility in any way.
@whatatoots Yes, I know that. Any response to the suggestion of a lot of us meeting on the same hashtag at a prearranged time?
@IzzyKamikaze I'm a big fan of arranging around asynchronous interaction so people can dive in when it suits. I don't think having a time means people can't interact after the fact but it should be clear the synchronisation is optional.
@whatatoots Yes, I enjoy both. I'm just suggesting a short time frame where live interaction becomes easy to find for those who want it.
@IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots I think early Irish twitter was based around following hashtags like #Vinb to discuss the show and politics - I don't think there's a current affairs show like that to pull together large groups of people for #Mastodaoine - or if there is I'm not aware or watching it these days.
@Lamhfada @whatatoots That's a good point!
@Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze I came to Twitter from Mumsnet ( Don't cancel me, I unfollowed all the terfs!
@Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots
Rose of Tralee should be the next one.
@Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots But mostly, the key is to get them on mastodon.ie and follow the local feed
@faduda @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots
I do have a wander down the local timeline and chip in and say hi when I can. I like having a conversation with people and mastodon.ie is Still small enough that that's feasible.
@faduda @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots No, the next one is the #WorldCup and #COYGIG - starts this Thursday.
@clickhere @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots Sports never seems to go mass market the way Eurovision or toysshow do
@faduda @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots With men's sports, maybe. We have no precedent with women's games.
@clickhere @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots Fingers crossed
@faduda @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots pity the PAC hearings for #RTE are over.
@Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots #VinB was a tentpole alright (thanks @Tupp_ed !) and then there were events like the synchronised Princess Bride live-tweet (#AsYouWish thanks @damienmulley !) that built connections too.
@allancavanagh @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots @Tupp_ed @damienmulley
A good scandal playing out in real time can help too. The moment I saw the power of the site was Suzybie live tweeting as RTE memoryholed the Cowan portraits news reports.
@allancavanagh @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots @damienmulley The #vinb days were a sort of happy accident building out of a kind of community already working with agreed rules of moderation and engagement from the ScribbleLive blogs, but they are an interesting idea for here, where hashtags are key to discovering and seeing each other again.
@allancavanagh @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots @damienmulley The difficulty arises when it comes to picking the focus for common comment. #VinB had the advantage of being on after everything else in life (children, work, meals etc) was done, of being there every night, so the discussion and community was too and being on a broad range of topics at at febrile political time. (The Govt collapsed the economy)
@allancavanagh @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots @damienmulley Also there was always the chance #VinB might just savage a guest on camera.
@Tupp_ed @allancavanagh @Lamhfada @whatatoots @damienmulley Ah, them were the days!
@Tupp_ed @allancavanagh @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots @damienmulley yeah it was where I decided twitter was of use as I could follow the threads when I was working a night shift and it provided #content to look at in the quiet hours.
@Tupp_ed @allancavanagh @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots @damienmulley
Oh. So no chance for #COYGIG?
@clickhere @Tupp_ed @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots @damienmulley I think I just covered this on another thread
@allancavanagh @Tupp_ed @Lamhfada @IzzyKamikaze @whatatoots @damienmulley
lol, just replied. And noted!
@IzzyKamikaze Follow, follow, follow, people and hashtags, because otherwise your timeline is going to be quiet. Also, since a lot of us are on .ie, look at the local timeline and you'll see all kinds of interesting people pop up.
@ciara2001 @IzzyKamikaze here to confirm I was wondering the same a few weeks back and did what's been advised above and it really works, my feed is much better now. I browse Local timeline which is a good place for the Irish stuff.
For synchronised meeting thats a brilliant idea though I've never found a timeslot that tends to work universally with my peers when organising.
Suggesting #MastodaoineMonday purely for alliteration and the fact that traditionally I never go out on Mondays
@miridescent @ciara2001 @IzzyKamikaze and yeah, excellent point about the local timelines!
@IzzyKamikaze I think it’s a critical mass thing. It’s been (subjectively) quiet here until this last exodus, new followers and dormant accounts lit up again, it’s been pretty good since.
@allancavanagh That's good to hear!
@IzzyKamikaze @allancavanagh I think the first time I met Allan was at a Twitter meetup thing in McSwiggans in Galway =) Perhaps something like that could work as well?
@IzzyKamikaze A ‘problem’ is that it takes work. People are used to having a relatively large active following that engages, and starting from scratch or close to it is daunting and hard work (and intimidating!). It helps to have ‘buddies’ and be open to new people. So a peer group to help with hoisting (which you’re doing) is a great idea!
@IzzyKamikaze In case anyone sees this and thinks I’m having a go or being harsh - no! Moving social networks is hard and help is good, especially from peers. Look at who people who you follow are following, and you’ll see names you recognise. And just be sound like you always have been.
@IzzyKamikaze This might amuse you if you’re stuck for light-hearted sometime, it’s about moving to Mastodon/the Fediverse by me: https://www.andcurve.com/2023/02/13/on-moving-to-a-new-social-media-world/ - just observations, not a manual!
@kevinteljeur @IzzyKamikaze I wonder, too, if people have been trained out of exploratory interactions with strangers they don't follow by the way Twitter's algorithm works. So often people just don't see you replying to them over there, or the antagonistic culture of the site means things get read in bad faith and ignored, and that's made people quite tentative and reticent about just joining conversations. Mastodon feels much friendlier about that.
@bioluminescently @IzzyKamikaze Well, sometimes (quoting me):
@kevinteljeur @IzzyKamikaze I've been lucky to avoid that here, but it was very prevalent on Twitter as well.
@kevinteljeur @IzzyKamikaze Thursday nights.
@IzzyKamikaze Izzy... People are really friendly here so folks will offer to help.
I love finding rich threads of conversation -- just like this one. It's great to take part and also meet people here.
Persevere with #mastodon ... I now find it the most engaging social network I've ever used.
Once you realise the algorithm isn't going to do the work for you, you'll go wandering for hours across the #fediverse looking for interesting people.
Enjoy.