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Mastodon Profile Setup

The goal of this documentation is not to replace the official documentation, but rather be a supplement to it in gaining a better understanding of setting up a Mastodon profile.

Note

Exact locations and features of some items may vary depending on the Mastodon client used. Therefore the web application will be used as the primary base of reference.

Prerequisite

Assumptions

  • A Mastodon instance has been chosen
  • A Mastodon account has been previously created

Environment

Appearance

Within Mastodon's edit profile under Appearance will have the following settings.

Display Name

This value represents the display name that will appear on Mastodon profile, posts (toots), replies or direct messages just before the Mastodon username (e.g. @adamsdesk@fosstodon.org).

  • Emoji Support: Yes
  • Maximum Length: 30 characters (server default)
Mastodon edit profile screen with display name example that includes an emoji.
An example of a display name

Bio

A short description that will provide a good overview of who you are and what would be generally expected to appear on this account.

A good biography (bio) should be compelling visitors to want to read the posts (toots), boosts and replies. Then hopefully be engaged enough to follow and reply, boost, and favorite posts (toots).

  • Emoji Support: Yes
  • Hashtag Support: Yes
  • Mention Support: Yes
  • Maximum Length: 500 characters (server default)
Mastodon edit profile screen with bio example that includes emojis.
An example of a bio

The image that appears at the top of the profile is what is called the header. This same image also appears in profile cards used in follow lists and account directories.

The header image will be automatically scaled down if larger than the supported maximum resolution.

  • Maximum File Size: 2 MB
  • Maximum Resolution: 1500 x 500 px
  • Supported Image Formats: GIF, PNG, JPG
Mastodon profile page with a header image.
An example of a profile page with a header image
Mastodon following/followers screen of 4 profiles with header images.
An example of a following/followers page with a header images
Mastodon account directory/explore page with header image.
An example of the account directory/explore page with a header image

Avatar

An icon that appears on posts (toots), profile, and profile cards within follow lists and account directories.

It's important to remember that the icon is a part of the account's visual identify which helps people quickly recognize who it is.

  • Maximum File Size: 2 MB
  • Maximum Resolution: 400 x 400 px
  • Supported Image Formats: GIF, PNG, JPG
Mastodon profile avatar example.
An example of a profile avatar
Mastodon follow list with avatars example.
An example of a follow list with avatars

Flags

To better communicate how an account is used on Mastodon profile flags are provided.

Locked Account

Enabling "Require follow requests" (checked) the following behaviour occurs.

  • The account will receive follow request notifications that will require to be manually approved or denied
  • A lock icon will appear after the profile username

Disabling "Require follow requests" (unchecked) allows for anyone to follow without permission.

Mastodon profile lock example.
An example of a profile lock

Tip

Temporarily disable this feature when migrating to another Mastodon instance to avoid endless approvals of all the account followers.

Bot Account

Enabling "This is a bot account" (checked) provides the following behaviour.

  • A bot icon will appear after the profile display name
  • The icon is a visual indicator that the profile may perform automated actions, or might not be monitored by a human

Note

Outside the Mastodon software, the bot flag when enabled may behave differently.

Disabled "This is a bot account" (unchecked) assumes the account is not automated and is monitored by a human.

An example of a Mastodon profile with bot account.
An example of a profile as a bot account

Profile directory

Enabling "Suggest account to others" (checked) provides the following behaviour.

  • Allows the profile to be listed within the profile directory
  • Allows the profile to be discoverable through recommendations and trends

Disabling "Suggest account to others" will not make the profile easy to discover.

Hide Following and Followers

Enabling "Hide your social graph" (checked) provides the following behaviour.

  • Hides who you follow on the profile
  • Hides who is following you on the profile
  • When trying to view following or followers of a profile a message of "This information is not available" is displayed
  • Only total number of following and followers is displayed

Disabled "Hide your social graph" (checked) provides the following behaviour.

  • Lists who you follow on the profile
  • Lists who is following you on the profile

Profile Metadata

A way to add additional information such as country, age, or website address that will be displayed as a table. Each row allows for a label (left) and a content value (right).

The label field value will be displayed as text and will only render emojis. Links work within content field only, including emojis (prefixed/suffixed with :), hashtags (prefixed with #) and mentions (prefixed with @).

  • Emoji Support: Yes
  • Hashtag Support: Yes
  • Mention Support: Yes
  • Link Support: Yes (content only)
  • Maximum Rows: 4
  • Maximum Label Length: 255 characters
  • Maximum Content Length: 255 characters

Example

Label Content
🌎 Home https://www.adamsdesk.com/
Knowledge https://kb.adamsdesk.com/
Country Risa
Pronouns he/him

Profile metadata links can be verified as the owner using a link back to the Mastodon profile. Verified links will have a colored background and checkmark icon before the link. Unverified links will not have a green background or checkmark.

Mastodon profile with links verified and a unverified link.
An example of profile verified links and unverified link

In order to link back to the profile a link back must have an attribute of rel="me" as shown below.

<a rel="me" href="https://fosstodon.org/@adamsdesk">Mastodon</a>

The attribute rel="me" can also be added within the HTML element tag, <head>.

<head>
    ...
    <link rel="me" href="https://fosstodon.org/@adamsdesk">
    ...
</head>

Note

Document-based verification and blue ticks are not possible without a central authority.

Choose desired hashtags to be display prominently on the public profile. This will allow for people to browse the public posts associated to each hashtag. Each hashtag displayed also shows the last date and time of the most recent post (toot) along with the total number of posts (toots) associated.

  • Maximum Hashtags: 10
Illustrating how featured hashtag looks on a Mastodon profile.
An example of a featured hashtag

Note

The web application has a limit of only displaying 3 featured hashtags.

You can choose to feature profiles you are following to appear on your profile page. Up to 4 profiles are selected randomly to be displayed each time the profile page is loaded. The featured profiles display under "Display name's Choices:".

Illustrating a Mastodon profile with featured profiles.
An example of featured profiles

Note

The web application no longer displays featured profiles.

  1. Go to a profile page of someone you are following.
  2. Click/touch the context menu then "Feature on profile".
Illustrating how to add profile lock on Mastodon.
How to add a featured profile
  1. Go to a profile page of someone you are following.
  2. Click/touch the context menu then "Don't feature on profile".
Illustrating how to remove profile lock on Mastodon.
How to remove a featured profile

Pinned Posts (Toots)

Before all other chronological posts (toots) one can pin a public post (toot) to the top under the "posts" tab of a profile page. A total of 5 posts (toots) maybe pinned.

Mastodon profile with a pinned post (toot).
An example of a pinned toot

Add Pinned Post (Toot)

  1. Find a public toot to pin.
  2. Click/touch on the context menu then "Pin on profile".
Illustrating how to add a pinned post (toot) to a Mastodon profile.
How to add a pinned post (toot)

Remove Pinned Post (Toot)

  1. Go to your profile page.
  2. Click/touch on the context menu then "Unpin from profile".
Illustrating how to remove a pinned post (toot) to a Mastodon profile.
How to remove a pinned post (toot)

Terminology

Avatar
An icon, graphic or image that is a visual representation of a profile.
Boost
A shared message post (toot).
Emoji
A visual representation that expresses an emotion, action or brand.
Hashtag

Text prefaced by a hash or pound sign, # (e.g. $100DaysToOffload). In social media, blogging or photo sharing hashtags are user generated and are used as a form of cross-referencing or grouping of content by topic or theme.

An example of this is when clicking/touching on a hashtag will return all posts with the associated tag.

Pinned Post (toot)
A message post (toot) fastened to the top posts to give focus.
Profile
Represents the user's entirety of associated data.
Toot
A message post displayed on the Mastodon system.