are there any analytics tools you can use with Mastodon to see how many views you’re getting? Or is your reach a complete mystery here?

mystery as far as I understand it. But I could be wrong.

Sorry I didn't see that when it was posted. There are ways you can look at certain metrics, like, you can figure out what servers are getting it based on who is following you and who is following the people who boosted, and I'm sure you could go a step further with a link by tracking how many unique clicks there were on it. The server itself knows where it's sending the post, so I feel like maybe it could offer some slightly better tools for understanding that...

However, in terms of knowing exact metrics for people just looking at it, Fediverse software is built around not tracking users, and the decentralized nature would make it extremely difficult to accurately get those metrics even if they had them. People have put in feature requests, but what little they would be willing to do is not a priority.

that’s wild! I’m a big fan of the philosophies underpinning Fediverse, but it seems unclear how to build an audience here

Fedi doesn't really work for influencers and "audience building" so to speak. People are really immune to it. Friction is built-in, especially because there is no algorithm.

So, instead of audience building, it's more like community participation and relationship building. Building an audience is not really a goal here. Real conversations and discussions and sharing of information are the goal. Authenticity is rewarded with authenticity.

People don't so much *build audiences*, they find mutuals.

At least, that's my experience and the experience of most of the people in my corner of Mastodon.

All that being said, while that friction encourages authentic interaction, it is also difficult to get started on here specifically because there is no algorithm showing you people and stuff you might find interesting in order to find mutuals who click for you, have similar interests, etc.

Two of the biggest things that can help:

- you're on .social, which is like a welcome lobby. Some people stay there and that's fine, but people often migrate to servers that have a lot of similar interests so that your local feed is filled with stuff and people you're more likely to click with. But you might not know the servers that would be best for you without getting a feel for the users.

- When I started some time ago, I vaguely remember that my tactic was to find a few people I liked, and then I just followed a ton of the people they followed, and started following and joining the conversation when I had something to add, and unfollowing when I decided that I wasn't interested in something someone was posting. Similarly, you can follow hashtags, and that's a help, too, to introduce people to your feed with similar interests.

In other words, if you want to build mutuals, it's more about finding others than it is about helping them find you.

But like, conversation and authenticity is pretty key, and bios with information about what you're about help people decide if they want to connect or not.

Oh, and one more bonus tip is to do an introduction post.

Hashtag the word introduction. Hashtag a bunch of stuff about yourself. Then pin that to your timeline. Makes a huge difference.

thanx that’s super helpful!

You're welcome! Happy it helps!

regarding the part about pinning a post to my timeline, the option to pin doesn’t appear where the Mastodon documentation said I would find it. Is pinning a feature you get after verifying?

Try updating your app!
If the issue remains the same, the you can reach out to @FediTips .
They will provide the necessary info, as soon as possible
#feditips #Mastodon #Fediverse

The official Mastodon app doesn't let you pin posts yet, but you can do this by logging in on your server's website or by using a third party app.

By the way, you might want to switch to a third party app anyway as they tend to be much better than the official apps. On iPhone/iPad some good third party apps are Ice Cubes, Mona, Ivory for example.

If you want to use the website, in your case your server's website is https://mastodon.social