Post #3561515

If you’re new to Mastodon, you may not be aware that it’s possible to actually follow, not just search on, a hashtag. If you follow a hashtag, it means that posts using that hashtag will appear in your Mastodon timeline even if you don’t follow someone who posts with that hashtag. The official hashtag for the National Federation of the Blind’s national convention in Austin is #NFB26. How you perform the initial setup varies depending on which of the many accessible Mastodon clients you’re using. However, typically you would search for posts containing #NFB26. When your client finds a post containing the hashtag, there should be an option in a context menu or similar to follow that hashtag. One of the clients I use is Mona for Mastodon, which is available for iOS, iPadOS, and MacOS. In addition to supporting hashtag following, you can also add a tab to Mona’s epic tab bar that will show you only the posts using #NFB26. This is a wonderful feature when you’re super busy at convention and you don’t have time to read your Mastodon timeline, but you don’t want to miss a single #NFB26 post. Speaking of posts, if you want your posts to be visible to those following the hashtag, it’s essential that your posts be set to public. I have a lot of experience with events that use Mastodon hashtags, and have seen how demoralizing it is for someone who is contributing to the conversation via the hashtag, but no one seems to be engaging with them. They then find that their posts weren’t public, so they were only reaching their followers, not everyone following the hashtag. If you don’t want your posts to be public by default, you can override the default setting in most Mastodon clients and make specific posts public. So, what do people actually post? Well, many of us post while at convention about events we’re attending, tips and tricks to help you make the most of your convention time, and more. Speaking as an attendee, I am so grateful when people take the time to live post about sessions they’re attending, because I know of no convention attendee who doesn’t wish they could be two places at once, at least once. So this allows us to catch up with details about an event we just couldn’t get to. And of course, not everyone who wants to can make it to convention, so people who are attending virtually appreciate it to. Make sure you bring your power bank and your favorite comfortable keyboard to convention, and post away. The exhibit hall can help you out if you need new gear for this task. So, whether you’re attending in person or virtually, join the conversation and follow #NFB26. Cannot wait to catch up with everyone in Austin. This is going to be an amazing convention full of advocacy, fellowship, and learning.