Understanding Decentralized Social Feed Curation on Mastodon
Journal:
arXiv
Published Date:
Apr 26, 2025
Abstract
As centralized social media platforms face growing concerns, more users are
seeking greater control over their social feeds and turning to decentralized
alternatives such as Mastodon. The decentralized nature of Mastodon creates
unique opportunities for customizing feeds, yet user perceptions and curation
strategies on these platforms remain unknown. This paper presents findings from
a two-part interview study with 21 Mastodon users, exploring how they perceive,
interact with, and manage their current feeds, and how we can better empower
users to personalize their feeds on Mastodon. We use the qualitative findings
of the first part of the study to guide the creation of Braids, a web-based
prototype for feed curation. Results from the second part of our study, using
Braids, highlighted opportunities and challenges for future research,
particularly in using seamful design to enhance people's acceptance of
algorithmic curation and nuanced trade-offs between machine learning-based and
rule-based curation algorithms. To optimize user experience, we also discuss
the tension between creating new apps and building add-ons in the decentralized
social media realm.
