Here’s who to follow on Mastodon for all your Windows and tech needs

News
By Daniel Rubino
published

We have a list for you if you’re on Mastodon and looking for some tech sites and people to follow.

Mastodon on Android
(Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

The decentralized Mastodon (found on the “Fediverse”) is rapidly growing in popularity, with some estimates putting it with around 9 million registered users by the end of the year. That’s a sharp increase from just over a million a few months ago.

The problem with Mastodon is discovery: Finding people and topics you want to follow. Unlike Twitter, Mastodon has no algorithms and doesn’t try to recommend anything to you. Your feed is just that: A real-time, chronological list of postings from people you follow and nothing more. And while you can search for people, it only works for people on your Mastodon “instance,” that is, the server you joined (you can switch servers later, however, and keep all your followers).

There are a few ways to get around this, including the brute-force way below, where we have a running list of people and sites as recommended follows if you’re into all things technology. Unfortunately, if they’re not on your Mastodon instance, you can still follow them, but it’s tricky if you’re on the web (you have to copy, paste, and search using their web link).

You may be surprised how many people are now actively posting on Mastodon (and enjoying it). Following the people and sites on this list is a great way to join them!

Scroll to the bottom to see changelogs and what's new!

Who to follow on Mastodon?

Windows Central

Tech Sites

Tech Reporters and Personalities 

Microsoft

Google

Mozilla

Qualcomm

T-Mobile

The Verge staff

What apps to use?

Mastodon's web site makes a fantastic PWA on Windows. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

Surprisingly, there are some great app options if you're on Android or behind a PC.

If on your Windows computer, use the website as a progressive web app (PWA) by "installing" it via Microsoft Edge. You can pin it to your Taskbar and desktop just like an app. 

Another tip: On Mastodon, go to Preferences > Appearance and check to Enable advanced web interface to deliver a Tweetdeck-like experience.

On Android, the official Mastodon app is already great, but you can also use Megalodon for Mastodon, which is an offshoot of the official app, delivering way more features. Many people also like Tusky for Mastodon. 

Other tricks for Mastodon

Moa.party lets you easily cross-post between Twitter and Mastodon. (Image credit: Future)

Besides going through this list, you can use third-party tools like Fedfinder, which looks at who you follow on Twitter and finds them for you on the Fediverse (Mastodon), allowing you to import the list to your Mastodon account in a few easy steps.

You can also use another third-party service called Moa.party, which lets you cross-post between Twitter and Mastodon (in either direction), which is a good trick if you’re not quite ready to jump to Mastodon full-time.

We’ll update this page with more tools and tricks as we come across them, so give it a bookmark and share it with others!

Mastodon list changelog

These are all the additional Mastodon accounts we have added and by update period to make it easier to sort and keep track.

Updated 12/21/2022: 

Also created sub-sections for Mozilla, Qualcomm, Google, and The Verge.

Updated 12/20/2022: 

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.