How to Follow People on Mastodon

Mastodon is a vibrant place full of incredible communities, but you won’t see any of them until you start to follow other people. If you’ve just signed up for Mastodon and your timeline looks like a ghost town, here’s how to fix that by following some people.

Stay in the App

The best way to follow people on Mastodon is from within the web app (that is, the website where you have signed up with an account) or a client application such as the official Mastodon mobile app(Opens in a new window) or a third-party like Tusky. You can use the search box to find your friends or just click on a username or avatar. 

From within the Mastodon web app, you can easily search for other users.
(Credit: Mastodon)

Your focus will immediately shift to the person’s user page. From here, just click the big Follow button. That’s it!

From inside the Mastodon web app, you can follow another user directly from their profile page.
(Credit: Mastodon)

Note that even after you successfully follow an account, the full record of that person’s posts won’t appear in your timeline. All of their future posts will, however.

If you want to see everything a person has ever posted, it’s best to go directly to their user page in your browser. There’s a View Full Profile link on each user profile page in the web app and most client apps, or you can type it in yourself. You just need to know the URL of the Mastodon server (sometimes called an “instance”) that the person uses. Account pages are structured this way https://nameof.instance/@username(Opens in a new window).

Follow From a Profile Page

A lot of people spread word of their new home on Mastodon by posting links to their Mastodon profile pages. The process for following someone from these pages is a little more convoluted and is radically different from other social networks, but it’s not nearly as hard as it seems.

First, hit that big friendly Follow button on the person’s profile page. A new window will open. This will look different depending on whether the person’s Mastodon instance is running software older than Mastodon 4.0. If they’re running newer software, you’ll see a window with two options.

In newer versions of Mastodon, following someone from their profile page gives you more options.
(Credit: Mastodon)

On the left side, you can log in or create an account on the same server as the person you’re trying to follow. If you already have a Mastodon account and it’s not on this server, you’ll want to ignore this.

On the right side, you’ll see a text box containing the URL of the person’s user page. You can click the copy button or just copy it directly from the address bar of your browser. Now head back to the Mastodon web app or your favorite client app and paste the URL into the search box. Once you do, just follow the instructions above.

If the person you’re trying to follow is on an instance running an older version of Mastodon, it’s slightly different.

Copy the URL of the person’s profile page and paste it into the search bar of the Mastodon web app or the client of your choice. Next, you’ll be prompted to log in to your home instance. Enter your email address and password as normal. (By the way, if you haven’t turned on multi-factor authentication for Mastodon, be sure to do that.) Now you should see a new page with a button that says Follow. Click it and you’re done.

Why does it do this? Because you might be logged into multiple accounts on different instances at the same time. Although this process is convoluted, it lets you have as many Mastodon personas as you wish.

What Is Two-Factor Authentication?

A Note on Mastodon Etiquette

It’s usually a good idea to take a look at a person’s Mastodon profile page before you click the Follow button. Some people have locked their accounts so that all follow requests have to be individually approved. If you click Follow and see that you aren’t immediately following them, that’s probably why. It’s best to move on and let the person accept or reject your request at their own speed—you won’t be informed either way. If you notice that after a while they still haven’t accepted your request, it’s bad form to reach out and ask why.

Some Mastodon users spell out some requirements for followers in their bio. It’s not unusual to see people say that they don’t accept follower requests from accounts that don’t have a profile photo or any posts. It’s a good idea to fill out your profile and write a post tagged #introduction that says a little about yourself, so people know you’re a real human.

Mastodon is all about connecting with people, so look around for new people to follow. You can start by following me: @[email protected](Opens in a new window)

For more on becoming acquainted with Mastodon, check out our guide to getting started.

Alternative Social Networks to Replace Twitter, Facebook, and More