When you follow a hashtag on Mastodon, posts using that tag appear in your Home feed mixed with posts from people you follow. This makes it hard to track a specific topic like “photography” or “tech news” without scrolling through unrelated content. Mastodon lets you pin a followed hashtag to a separate column so you can view those posts in their own dedicated space. This article explains how to follow a hashtag and then pin it as a persistent column in your Mastodon interface.
Key Takeaways: Pinning a Hashtag Column in Mastodon
- Search or explore the hashtag page: Follow a hashtag from its dedicated page to add it to your followed tags list.
- Column header dropdown menu: Use the three-dot menu on any column to pin a followed hashtag as a new column.
- Column settings gear icon: Reorder, remove, or customize pinned columns from the column settings panel.
How Following a Hashtag Works on Mastodon
Mastodon treats hashtags like accounts you can follow. When you follow a hashtag, posts from any user on your instance that include that hashtag appear in your Home feed. This is different from searching for a hashtag, which shows results only at the moment you search. Following a hashtag makes it a permanent part of your feed until you unfollow it.
To follow a hashtag, you must first locate its dedicated page. You can do this by typing the hashtag into the search bar or by clicking on a hashtag in any post. Once you are on the hashtag page, Mastodon shows a button labeled “Follow” or “Unfollow” depending on the current status. Clicking Follow adds the hashtag to your followed tags list.
After following a hashtag, its posts mix into your Home feed alongside posts from people you follow. If you want a dedicated view of only that hashtag, you need to pin it as a separate column. Pinning a column is a feature of the Mastodon web interface and some third-party clients. The official Mastodon web app and most advanced clients like Tusky for Android or Ice Cubes for iOS support column pinning.
Steps to Pin a Followed Hashtag as a Column
- Navigate to the hashtag page
Type the hashtag into the Mastodon search bar at the top of the page. Press Enter. Mastodon shows a results page with the hashtag listed under the “Hashtags” section. Click the hashtag link to open its dedicated page. - Follow the hashtag if not already followed
On the hashtag page, look for the “Follow” button near the top of the column. Click it. The button changes to “Unfollow” and the hashtag is now part of your followed tags. - Open the column header menu
Look at the top of the column that displays the hashtag feed. You see a horizontal three-dot icon or a gear icon. Click this icon to open the column menu. - Select the pin option
In the dropdown menu, click the option labeled “Pin” or “Pin to columns.” Mastodon immediately creates a new column dedicated to that hashtag. The new column appears to the right of your existing columns. - Reorder columns if needed
To move the new hashtag column to a different position, click the gear icon at the top of any column. This opens the column settings panel. Drag the hashtag column up or down in the list to reorder it. Click outside the panel to save the new order.
Common Mistakes and Limitations When Pinning Hashtag Columns
Hashtag not appearing in the column menu
The pin option only appears for hashtags you already follow. If you see no pin option, go back to the hashtag page and verify the Follow button shows “Unfollow.” If it shows “Follow,” click it first, then return to the column menu.
Pinned column shows no posts
A pinned hashtag column shows posts only from your home instance. If the hashtag is not used by anyone on your instance, the column remains empty. This is not a bug. Mastodon does not show federated hashtag results in a pinned column. To see federated results, use the search bar or the Explore tab instead.
Column disappears after browser refresh
Pinned columns are stored in your browser’s local storage, not on the Mastodon server. If you clear your browser cache or use a different device, the pinned columns are lost. To restore them, repeat the pinning steps on each device. Some third-party clients sync column settings across devices, but the official web interface does not.
Mastodon Web Interface vs Third-Party Clients for Column Pinning
| Item | Mastodon Web Interface | Third-Party Clients (Tusky, Ice Cubes) |
|---|---|---|
| Column pinning support | Yes, via column header menu | Yes, but menu location varies |
| Column persistence across devices | No, stored in browser local storage | Sometimes, if client syncs settings |
| Reorder columns | Yes, via column settings gear icon | Yes, usually by drag-and-drop |
| Federated hashtag results in pinned column | No, only local instance posts | Depends on client implementation |
Pinning a followed hashtag to a column gives you a focused view of a topic without cluttering your main feed. You can now set up columns for multiple hashtags and reorder them to match your workflow. For a more advanced setup, try using the “Lists” feature in Mastodon to group accounts and hashtags into separate timelines that you can pin as columns as well.