New users on the decentralized social network Mastodon could soon have an easier time getting started. Mastodon is running “onboarding experiments” to test ways to improve the new user experience, starting with default server recommendations. Now when new users join Mastodon from the mobile app, they may see a button to “join” a recommended server rather than the default “join mastodon.social” button that’s currently displayed.
Unlike most other social platforms, Mastodon has hundreds of independent servers users can join, catering to different communities and niches. The addition of default server recommendations could potentially help new users find a server that suits their interests without overwhelming them or, alternatively, simply sending everyone to the general mastodon.social server.
Mastodon says it’s “planning to recommend the closest geographic server in the correct language based on data surfaced by the app store,” so default server recommendations will initially only be on the platform’s iOS and Android apps. Additionally, Mastodon is planning to expand options for classifying servers based on “demographics, interests, and geographic regions.”
While server recommendations are the most significant change Mastodon is testing, it has also launched a new help center where new users can find guides and tutorials. Mastodon recently introduced “Packs,” as well, which recommend groups of accounts for users to follow, similar to Bluesky’s Starter Packs.
Along with the changes to its onboarding process, Mastodon also announced on Thursday that it is leaving Discord and moving to the open-source chat app Zulip. Mastodon says it’s “a long-term project” and part of efforts to move its digital infrastructure to free and open-source software (FOSS). The update follows Discord’s announcement last week that it will be rolling out age verification measures globally on its platform.
