Well, they're kind of like fuzzy elephants…
Mastodon is a federated social media network, part of the greater Fediverse. But what does that mean?
The Fediverse is a collection of independent servers that mesh together to create a unified social media network. It's like if you and your buddies could have your own private Twitter, and it could talk to everyone else's. The Fediverse encompasses much more than Mastodon, there are a variety of services that can interact seamlessly, like if you could follow your friends Instagram and YouTube from your Twitter or Facebook account. But explaining all that goes beyond the scope of this introduction.
When signing up for Mastodon, one of the first and often most confusing options you must choose is which server or instance you want to join. But what does that mean?
Unlike Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok Mastodon is not run by one company or under one domain. Each instance is a separately run community operating from an independent server or servers from the rest of the Fediverse. But thanks to federation, it doesn't matter which server you pick, you still have access to mostly the same social network no matter which instance you pick (see Notes on Moderation: Defederation) You can think about choosing an instance like signing up for an email address. Your username might be @gmail.com but you can still correspond with users regardless of their addresses.
Well, make sure you have reviewed the Rules and look over these important Security Guidelines
Now you need to Find people and things to follow. Mastodon doesn't use attention stealing algorithms to optimize the amount of screen time you spend scrolling. Here you become your own algorithm by choosing who and what to follow. Here's a few ideas to give you a jump start:
Look for the icon to the right of the search bar (next the the Back link):
Mastodon has a flexible web interface, but many users do the majority of their interaction with Mastodon on their smart phone or tablet. There are official Mastodon apps for both Android and iOS, but there is also a rich ecosystem of third-party applications for both platforms, many of which are more user friendly or feature rich than even the official app. We could catalogue them all here, but a far better job has already been done: