documentation/content/en/usage/basics.md

title	description	menu
Basics	Overview of Mastodon's basic functionality	docs parent weight usage 1

Sign up

You have to choose a server to sign up on, like you would choose an e-mail provider, or a World of Warcraft realm for your new character. The server will be hosting your account and your home feed.

You can browse a list of servers by categories and languages on joinmastodon.org.

Edit profile

Picture, name and bio

• You can upload a profile picture
• You can upload a header image for your profile
• You can set a display name different to your username
• You can write about yourself in the bio
• You can mention people and use hashtags and custom emoji in your bio

Profile metadata

Profile metadata is a way to add extra information to your profile that is easy to skim. You have 4 rows where you can define the label and the value. For example:

Label	Content
Age	25
Country	Germany
Pronouns	he/him

It's completely up to you what you put there. The content can contain mentions, hashtags, custom emojis and links.

Link verification

If you put a link in your profile metadata, Mastodon checks if the linked page links back to your Mastodon profile. If so, you get a verification checkmark next to that link, since you are confirmed as the owner.

Behind the scenes, Mastodon checks for the rel="me" attribute on the link back. Likewise, Mastodon puts rel="me" on the links within profile metadata.

Posting

Text

• You can use up to 500 characters
• You can mention other people like @alice or @alice@example.com
• When mentioning other people, the domain part of their username is not counted
• If you post links, they must begin with http:// or https://
• When posting links, all links are counted as 23 characters, no matter how long
• You can use hashtags like #example so others can find your post by that tag
• You can add a content warning to your post
• The content warning is plain text. It does not support mentions, hashtags or links

Media

• You can upload PNG and JPG images
• Uploaded GIFs are converted to soundless MP4s like on Imgur/Gfycat (GIFV)
• You can also directly upload soundless MP4s and WebMs (GIFV)
• You can upload videos in the MP4, WebM or MOV format
• Upload limit for images is 8 MB
• Upload limit for videos is 40 MB
• Images with a surface area larger than 1280² pixels are downsized
• All media in a post can be hidden behind a spoiler

Custom emoji

• Each server offers a set of custom emoji you can use, like on Discord
• You can use an emoji using its shortcode like :thounking: