Mastodon Adopts Bluesky’s Starter Packs With Opt-Out Option
▼ Summary
– Mastodon is introducing “Packs” to help users quickly find accounts to follow and fill their feeds, similar to Bluesky’s Starter Packs.
– Users can opt out of Packs, receive notifications when added, and remove themselves without reporting or blocking the creator.
– The feature aims to simplify onboarding for new users and will be integrated into Mastodon 4.6’s onboarding process.
– Mastodon plans to make Packs available to developers of other ActivityPub-based applications to expand their use.
– Implementing Packs is challenging due to the need for user consent and compatibility across independent servers in the Fediverse.
Mastodon is rolling out a new feature called “Packs” designed to simplify the process of discovering interesting accounts and building a vibrant social feed. This announcement came during the recent FediForum event, where the decentralized network revealed its plan to introduce curated lists of accounts organized by topic or category. The approach bears a resemblance to Bluesky’s Starter Packs, which group users such as journalists, podcasters, and other notable figures for easy following.
A key distinction with Mastodon’s implementation is the emphasis on user control. You will have the ability to opt out of Packs entirely, preventing other users from adding your profile to any collection. Furthermore, the platform will notify you whenever someone includes you in a Pack. Unlike the system on Bluesky, Mastodon will allow you to remove yourself from a Pack directly, without needing to file a report or block the user. The development team also intends to make this feature available to other applications built on the ActivityPub protocol.
This initiative is part of a broader strategy to improve the new user experience, which has historically been a challenge for the federated network. Previous efforts included guiding newcomers to sign up on the mastodon.social instance to avoid the complexity of selecting from thousands of servers. The move also follows similar developments elsewhere, as Meta’s Threads platform has incorporated its own version of curated account lists.
However, bringing this vision to life will not happen overnight. The initial version of Packs is scheduled for release within the onboarding workflow of Mastodon version 4.6; the network is currently on version 4.4. Mastodon’s product designer, Imani Joy, explained in a blog post that these user-generated collections could significantly help people find their community faster upon entering the Fediverse. She also acknowledged the considerable technical challenge of building a feature that prioritizes user consent while functioning seamlessly across a vast network of independent servers.
(Source: The Verge)
