Use hashtags on Mastodon,because there are no algorithms to steer your post to eyes.
#getfediHired gets boosted
Active engagement replaces top down steering. Follow, to reach instances, use hashtags.
@kevinrns @w3c
Thank you for the advice. Do you have suggestions or some guide on how to use hashtags?
I have been using mastodon for years and I still do not get it.
There are some very specific ones which are interesting at times and can be followed.
But, in most cases people just use random hashtags using random words in their messages. In those cases following the hashtag is not interesting as anything could come up.
In general, I see boosting as a much more reliable mechanism to diffund messages through the fediverse. Also because boosting will actually spread the toots to other instances, while the hashtag itself will not.
Many people _follow hashtags, like an account, like a person. There's a button atop the new column when you click a hashtag.
#bloomscrolling has had 450 posts today. So all of them are added to your home timeline, if you follow it. As you type a hashtag, Mastodon shows the number used today.
Follow several, boost them, use useful ones. You can always stop following.
Tools. #introduction has 145 today.
Oct 24, 2025, 5:43 PM@kevinrns @w3c
I do follow some hashtags. But it's mostly very specific things, such as cheminformatics.
Were I to follow things like Friday, news, dogs... Anything may come up. I mean, even chemistry has a bunch of very very different things I do not care about.
How do you make hashtags worthwhile following? There are some which are specific to some instances and have a very clear objective, but outside from that I never found something which actually works.
Let's say I'm interested in people collecting mushrooms in the wild. What should I follow? Mushroom, mycology? Most possibly this will get full of things completely unrelated and nothing I actually care about.
Same thing when I'm writing the toot, which ones should I introduce?
Yes. Mastodon is a newspaper and has sections you never open. Some folks never open sports, or turn first to puzzles, or just read the business pages.
Unlike a newspaper, it's written by readers, and has no single overriding purpose.
Good luck finding all the #FungiFriday #mushroom #MushroomMonday hashtags used.
Adding a hashtag to the front of # chem shows that #chembiochem was used 4 times - experiment.
Mastodon is the cafe at the world's fair.