Mastodon Snags Bluesky Startup Feature and Includes Opt-Out Option

Mastodon introduces “packs” to help you quickly find accounts to follow and fill out your feed. The decentralized social network announced the feature as part of the Fedididiforum event on Tuesday. It will work similarly to the Starter Packs on Bluesky, which offer curated account lists you can track based on categories, like verified users, podcasters, and journalists.

Mastodon will allow you to opt out of packs, meaning other users cannot include your account in one. You’ll also receive a notification when someone adds you to a pack, and unlike Bluesky’s starter packs, you’ll be able to remove yourself from a pack without reporting or blocking the user. Mastodon is also working to make them available to developers of other ActivityPub-based applications.

The feature is part of Mastodon’s efforts to make the onboarding process easier for new users, something it has already attempted to address by directing users to create accounts on Mastodon.social rather than having them choose from thousands of instances. The meta-property threads also added a Starter Packs style feature to its platform.

But implementing your own vision of starter packs will take some time. Mastodon plans to release an initial version of the feature as part of the integration process in Mastodon 4.6 (it is currently on 4.4). “We think these types of user-curated collections could help people find their tribe faster when they join the Fediverse,” Mastodon product designer Imani Joy said in the blog post. “At the same time, considering similar functionality that prioritizes user consent and operates in a constellation of independent servers is no small feat.”