Anyone know where I can follow intelligent folks in these spaces?
- Mechanics of the #fediverse and how to help it grow
- #politics #activism #organizing actionable plans to meaningfully engage
- #songwriting #Music production, #musicindustry
- #psychology and #science of #cults incl strategies to help someone leave
@jameslanman those areas overlap with mine if you are interested. Check my profile and feed. Welcome to mastodon
@Pachacutec hey 
Just followed you! Was hoping that post would sus folks like you out for me to connect with!
@jameslanman hey there. Totally random that I happened to check my feed!
@Pachacutec Love some good serendipity. Hey, early friend on here can I ask: Do folks use the "favorite button" like a "like button" or is it reserved for special occasions? 
@jameslanman
it varies. Some use it as a like, some use it as a kind of bookmark. But there's no algorithm that reviews likes and then boosts the popular posts.
We've not figured out where many public health folks are yet but here is one account to follow who frequently posts about public health:
Hello James! Welcome to the Fediverse. Here's a directory that might help:
I'm a musician myself. Do you write songs?
@jameslanman I haven't been posting about #musicproduction much lately but if you ever have any questions about some popular plugins or plugin companies, I own and have used a lot, maybe not all extensively, but don't ever hesitate to ask. If I know, I'll share what I know.
@jameslanman some accounts you may wish to follow, who have some overlap with those interests:
@HeavenlyPossum
@tinker
@beadsland
@radiofreefedi
Also check out https://a.gup.pe/ as they have a groups mechanism for fedi. Follow a group account for a topic, you discover toots from folks interested in those topics, and then you can follow those folks directly. Or toot to a group account, and then follow folks who boost or otherwise engage with your toot in helpful ways.
Because there's no algorithm pushing toots at you, you'll need a critical mass of accounts you follow before it stops feeling echoing and empty. Sometimes you'll refresh, and only see the toots you just boosted. Follow more accounts.
And once you're settled, find a better home than mastodon.social - it's big but also low reputation, mods allow lots of bad actors and spam/harmful content. Moving from one instance to another sometimes has hiccups, but it's a natively supported feature.
@sleepfreeparent Thank you this is super super helpful! Will check out these accounts and I appreciate the tip about this being a larger space but with more bad actors. Learning a lot my first day here in school!