Mastodon does not include a built-in feature to subscribe to a hashtag and receive push notifications for new posts. The official web interface and mobile apps allow you to follow hashtags, but they do not alert you in real time. Third-party clients such as Tusky, Fedilab, and Mona fill this gap by offering dedicated hashtag … Read more
You see the Trending section on your Mastodon home page and wonder how those hashtags got there. Some tags appear to be brand new while others have been around for days. Mastodon uses a combination of local and federated activity to decide which hashtags trend. This article explains the exact rules that govern hashtag discovery … Read more
Mastodon instance moderators often want to control which hashtags appear on the trending page. Without an approval workflow, any hashtag that reaches the trending threshold appears automatically. This can lead to spam, irrelevant tags, or content that does not match the instance culture. Mastodon includes a built-in approval system for trending hashtags that lets moderators … Read more
When you include an emoji inside a hashtag on Mastodon, the way that hashtag is displayed and federated depends heavily on the server software and configuration of both your instance and the remote instance. Some servers treat the emoji as part of the tag text, while others strip it out or convert it to a … Read more
During a conference, you want to share key quotes, speaker reactions, and behind-the-scenes moments with your followers and other attendees. A dedicated hashtag organizes all these posts into a single federated stream that anyone can follow. This article explains how to choose a conference hashtag, set up your Mastodon client to track it, and post … Read more
When you cross-post from Mastodon to Bluesky, hashtags do not work the same way on both platforms. Mastodon treats hashtags as clickable topic markers that federate across instances. Bluesky uses a different protocol where tags are not natively supported in the same fashion. This mismatch causes tags to break, become invisible, or appear as plain … Read more
You want to monitor a specific Mastodon hashtag without logging into an account or refreshing a timeline manually. Mastodon’s public API lets you fetch posts by hashtag in JSON format, and you can convert that data into an RSS feed for your preferred reader. This article walks through the process using the public API endpoint, … Read more
You want to export a PowerPoint presentation as an MP4 video that includes subtitles or captions for viewers who are hearing impaired or watching without audio. PowerPoint supports adding closed captions to individual slides, and these captions can be embedded directly into the exported MP4 file. This article explains how to add closed captions to … Read more
In Mastodon, your handle is the unique identifier that people use to find and mention you. It typically looks like @username@instance.social. Your display name is the name shown on your profile and posts. By default, Mastodon sets your display name to match your handle username, but you can change it to any text you like. … Read more
When you upload a header image to your Mastodon profile, the platform automatically crops it to fit a specific aspect ratio. Many users find their carefully composed image looks wrong after upload — the top or bottom gets cut off, or the image appears too zoomed in. This happens because Mastodon uses a fixed 3:1 … Read more