People

The People area is the heart of Mastodon is My Blog (MIMB). It turns your network into something closer to a blog roll than a giant blended timeline.

What this page is for

Use People when you want to:

  • read one person at a time
  • move through your network author by author
  • filter your reading by the kind of post you want

The three-column layout

Left side: blog roll navigation

This side gives you:

  • My Blog for your own posts
  • Everyone's Blog for a wider combined reading view
  • Next Blog to hop to the next person quickly
  • blog roll filters such as Top Friends, Mutuals, or Bots

Middle: the reading area

This is where posts or storms appear.

MIMB loads more as you keep scrolling, so long reading sessions are possible without switching pages all the time.

Right side: post filters

This side changes what kind of posts you are seeing from the current person or view.

How it works

When you choose a person, MIMB shows cached posts for that account inside the current identity's context.

If MIMB does not yet have that person's posts cached, it may try to fetch them when you open them.

Default behavior

People often land in Storms first. That is intentional. MIMB is biased toward thoughtful writing and self-threaded posts.

Unread markers

Unread badges and read states are local to your MIMB setup. They are there to help you keep track of what you already read in this interface.

Best ways to use it

Quiet reading session

Pick Top Friends and stay on Storms or Shorts.

Catching up broadly

Use Everyone's Blog and switch among Links, Questions, or Pictures.

Reading one author deeply

Click a person in the blog roll and keep the filter fixed while you move through their recent archive.

See also