Friendica has a LOT of feeds. Too many really. It's confusing. Overwhelming. Oh, and they're apparently called TIMELINES here. I've been trying to figure out which ones I should be using that are similar to the ones I used on Facebook.
Over on Facebook most people probably never go beyond the very awful "News Feed" which is full of algorithm-driven, AI-generated, and advertising garbage. And the only people, groups, or pages you see there are the ones you regularly interact with. Which is why for years I've been using the other feeds on Facebook, and they're the only thing that actually makes that platform usable IMO. But it's hard to try and figure out what Friendica "Timelines" are the closest corollary to the Facebook ones?
My best guesses are:
What's Hot = News Feed: It's a fire hose of posts from accounts you don't follow that are getting a lot of engagement. However, I have no clue what kinds of interactions or how many get something into this feed. There is also a "Discover" feed that says it's supposed to show "Posts from accounts that you don't follow but might like" and I have no clue how, without an algorithm, it would determine what I might like. Apparently it doesn't or can't because that feed is empty for me.
Latest Activity = All Feed: because it's based on people you're connected to and shows all their latest interactions (Posts, Likes, Shares, and Comments) including on posts by accounts you don't follow.
For You = Friends Feed: which I think is just posts from people listed as "Mutual Friendship" in your Contacts, meaning you are following them, they are following you.
Latest Activity + Circles/Account Types > Groups = Groups Feed: there doesn't appear to a separate Groups feed in Friendica.
Latest Activity + Circles > Interests = Pages Feed: at least I think "Interests" is referring to "Pages" but I'm not sure, and there doesn't appear to be a separate "Interests" feed.
It would be nice if you could filter the "Network" feeds by more than one thing at a time. There is no way to "stack" filters or save that view. Which is too bad because that would be a killer feature akin to Bluesky's custom algorithms!
As for the other "Timelines" in Friendica:
"Latest posts" and "Latest Creation" are obviously because stuff doesn't necessarily arrive on your server at the same time it was sent from another one. Though I'm not sure anything posted to social media is so time-sensitive you'd need these feeds since I assume the same stuff will show up under "Latest Activity."
"Personal" only shows posts that @ mention you. "Sharers of Sharers" sounds like a feed of what you would call "Friends of Friends" on Facebook. It's unclear what puts someone in "Quiet Sharers" though. It sounds like "Mutual Friendships" that just don't post much, but how often is often?
I'm guessing "Starred" means posts I've LIKED? Or does it only mean posts I've actually gone to the "More..." drop-down and selected "Add Star"? Or BOTH?
"Images," "Audio," and "Video" are pretty self-explanatory, I guess if you're here for the photos, podcasts, and TikTokish content. I've also seen on servers that have a lot of add-ons enabled people might have additional feeds for other platforms they are connected to, which are self-explanatory.
"Local Community" and "Global Community" appear to be the same feeds as under the "Community" button in the main navigation. Which is redundant, but okay.
Then I've also seen instructions for new users to go into Settings > Social Networks > General Social Media Settings and change the drop-down to "Any conversation my follows interact with, including likes" or your feeds will be pretty bare.
It's little wonder this confuses people coming from other platforms. It's...a lot.
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So there doesn't appear to be any way to manage/delete files uploaded to #Friendica through the Compose window Browser!?
When I click the little document icon it says the path is "/Files" and I see a list at the bottom of the files I've uploaded. Each one is listed twice per line like "filename.ext filename.ext" (but the first one is actually an image of the text, implying these could be managed like photos). Clicking any of them attaches them to the post as you'd expect.
But there isn't a "Files" manager like there is for "Photos" and the "Media" tab doesn't seem to do anything useful either. I get that this is for small files, I uploaded some CSS files to share, which works, but now I can apparently never, ever delete them? Am I missing a setting somewhere, or is file management a missing feature?
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@Kristi H. Yea, you sadly can't delete the files under Files. I generally avoid uploading anything on the files space, as apparently only server admins can delete these files (not sure why a way to do this as a user hasn't been done yet, as you can easily delete your photos).
I never even figured what to do with the files tab either before finding you can add videos as attachments this way. Really sucks in this regard.
If you don't wanna learn other things the hard way, I've compiled a list of resources and basic knowledge that I've gathered all these years since I've been here.
Hope that helps 😁
libranet.de/display/0b6b25a8-2…
Friendica beginner help megathread
Hello, everyone! As we know what Zuck's place is going through, I decided to create a post with all the resources I found online all these years I've been on this place, in a bid to help more people board. Here we go:List of guides/presentations/quick start
- @anubis2814's excelent guides for Friendica. Available as a playlist on YouTube:
youtube.com/watch?v=-4wsAmXnaE…
or on Peertube:
peertube.stream/w/p/4K4MWYXMEY…
(6 videos)- The Future of Social is Here: a Show and Tell (part 3: Friendica) by @[url=https://social.outsourcedmath.com/profile/elena]elena mark[/url] Rossini ⁂
- The Beginner’s guide to Friendica by @Tio
- When to use Friendica over Mastodon (updated) by @Greenpepper
- no less important, The Friendica Wiki also available under the help section of your instance (click on your pic and name on the top-right where you're logged in -> help)
- The @[url=https://friendica.world/friendica]System Account[/url] Support group for any questions or issues (yes, I intended to post this here).
All of these should be more comprehensive than this guide.
Short Q&A with the most common problems
How do I post stuff?
Easy, on your profile, click the button in the top right that looks like this:
A pop-up window will open, and you can type anything. Make sure to set the appropriate permissions by clicking the tab at the top. If you want your post to be public then choose public, if you don't, select limited/private and add the exceptions or add who can see it. Make sure you properly select these permissions, because you cannot change them later. If you format your post (see below), you can also check the preview pane to see how your post will look. This also applies for comments.
How to format my text?
Unlike Facebook, Friendica allows you to format your text, just like you'd do in a Word document. It uses BBCodes for text formatting like bold text, italic text, underlined text and many others. You can find more example on the usage of it in the Wiki or under
https://your-instance-address/help/bbcode. You don't have to style your text, but you can do some nice stuff with it. You can also get suggestions for formatting by typing[and selecting an option from the drop-down menu, or typing out your option to narrow your search. But do check the wiki, though. Generally, BBCode looks like[option]your-text-here[/option].If there is any text where you don't want to add any tags on by accident, slide it between these tags:
[noparse][/noparse].How to upload an image (and how to add alt-text to it)
Just drag&drop it into the composing page. Simple. Easy. No frills.Also, to note is that you can also re-use an image you previously uploaded if you go to the Browser tab in the compose window.
Finally, you can link to any image you find online, without downloading&reuploading it in the 1st place. Right-click an image, click "copy image link", then go to your post and type
[img]paste-your image-link-here[/img](of course, you paste your image link instead, between theimgtags). This is generally how images are displayed via BBCode.I personally use an external site to host my media and link it this way, whenever there is something I want on the internet for as long as possible in order to save some space on my instance. I mostly use postimages.org, but I also used
Meta and now also Reddit like to change the URL string to the media posted on their platforms, so don't rely on these if you want your post to still stay relevant after a few days.
You can also add Alt-Text to your image if, instead, you type
[img=your_image_url]Your Alt-Text here[/img]. Alt-Text is generally an image description that is displayed when the image fails to load/before loading, and is useful to visually impaired people using screen reading software which can read this out loud. The latter is the reason why it is highly recommended by many people all across the Fediverse (not just on Friendica).How to upload a video or other media
Just like you do with an image. However, the video will be posted under Browser, and then the "Files" icon:
Select your file, and it will be posted with an tag.
However, there's currently no user facing way to delete these as yet, so feel free to upload them on any other external service and share the direct link to the audio/video if you care about this.
You can use the tags
[audio]your-link-to-the-audio[/audio]and[video]your-link-to-the-video[/video]for that.How do I make a poll/vote at polls
Polls are currently supported by a few Fediverse platforms, but not by Friendica fully, right now (you can see them, but you cannot vote on them and create them).You can again use an external service for creating polls, such as poll-maker or Strawpoll.
Okay, but do I need to add a title?
No, you don't. I didn't add one either here. You can if you want your post to be more fancy and want to turn your profile into a more of a personal blog. Which would be cool, but it's not necessary. You do you!
How to post to a group
Groups on Friendica, as well as any other ActivityPub platform, are generally just some special accounts that automatically boost/reshare whatever post you added while tagging them. Therefore, just create a regular post and tag them with the
!or@signs (one of these tags should suffice). The former one creates a post that is visible on the group but unlisted wherever else (i.e. in a public feed). The latter takes account of your permission settings. You will see how you can find groups somewhere below.How to find various people
There are multiple ways; One is to use any of the established lists:
- Fedi.db's list
- Most followed Mastodon accounts by Stefan Hayden
- Fliboard federated accounts (for news organizations on Flipboard who enabled AP integration) [Google Sheet spreadsheet]
- [Public] Popular/famous/notable Mastodon accounts (also available as a website) [Google Sheet spreadsheet]
- The Friendica directory (only for people on Friendica)
- Follow @FediFollows for suggestion
You can also go to Settings>Profile>Miscellaneous and scroll all the way down to add some tags to the profile. Then, you can also go to Contacts and choose "similar interests" in the left pane, get friend suggestions or a random profile.
Finally, you can also follow hashtags to get posts from people that also share your interests directly in your feed, and then follow them from there.
I'm posting stuff here, but how can people discover me?
Just like on Mastodon, you can enhance your posts with #hashtags. Other people who follow the same hashtags can find you and connect with you if they want.
But that's not the only way. You can also add yourself into the aforementioned Friendica Directory or to your server's one by going to Settings>Account>Security and Privacy Settings and check any of these two options:
This way anyone can find you according to your interests.
If, however you would like more privacy, you can check the following box below:
This limits the visibility of your content to only instances that are made aware of it, and people that have access to it based on your privacy settings. Unlogged users will not be allowed to find your content. E.g., open my profile in a new tab to see how this feature works: libranet.de/profile/petrescatr…
How do I find groups?
Same as with regular people. There are multiple lists:
- Friendica Directory (for groups that are on Friendica).
- Check the list of @Fedi.Tips available here.
- Lemmyverse (For Communities on Lemmy - a decentralized Lemmy alternative - be wary of this though)
- Check out the servers of other Fediverse software like Mbin or Piefed. These are more forum-like platforms, centered around communities. Generally, each of these communities has a Fediverse address. Copy that, paste it in the search bar, and you should be able to find it. If it doesn't work the 1st time, try a few more times. If it still doesn't work, look whether the server is not on the banned list by accessing
your-server-address/friendica, and/or contact your admin for clarification.How do I use the search? Is it any useful beyond just searching for people and groups and other accounts?
Yes. Check the Wiki for more information.
Are there any mobile apps?
Yes there are. From my personal experience, Raccoon for Friendica gave me the best results. Relatica is also a great option, as well as Fedilab (the latter is more of a Mastodon client, but you can disable the display of reply in the feeds and enable BBCode - fiddle out in the settings). There are other apps for various platforms as well. If you don't find any of them fitting, you can just access your Friendica server in your browser (e.g. friendica.world, nerdica.net etc.). It's very responsive and easy to use.
I hope this Q&A covers the most common aspects of using Friendica
Other types of resources
- Bookface (server version, Stylus version) by @[url=https://kolektiva.social/users/Kristi]Kristi[/url] H. (also follow @Pygoscelis Papua for updates)
Bonus: Text colorsOne aspect that hasn't really been touched on in the wiki is the colors. You can have text in any color if you type the text like this[color=color_name_or_value]your text here[/color]. Hex values are accepted, however there are also some human readable names that can be used (based on this thread):
Antiquewhite
Aqua
Aquamarine
Azure
Beige
Bisque
Blanchedalmond
Blue
Blueviolet
Brown
Burlywood
Cadetblue
Chartreuse
Chocolate
Coral
Cornflowerblue
Cornsilk
Crimson
Cyan
Darkblue
Darkcyan
Darkgoldenrod
Darkgray
Darkgreen
Darkkhaki
Darkmagenta
Darkolivegreen
Darkorange
Darkorchid
Darkred
Darksalmon
Darkseagreen
Darkslateblue
Darkslategray
Darkturquoise
Darkviolet
Deeppink
Deepskyblue
Dimgray
Dodgerblue
Firebrick
Floralwhite
Forestgreen
Fuchsia
Gainsboro
Ghostwhite
Gold
Goldenrod
Gray
Green
Greenyellow
Honeydew
Hotpink
Indianred
Indigo
Ivory
Khaki
Lavender
Lavenderblush
Lawngreen
Lemonchiffon
Lightblue
Lightcoral
Lightcyan
Lightgoldenrodyellow
Lightgreen
Lightgrey
Lightpink
Lightsalmon
Lightseagreen
Lightskyblue
Lightslategray
Lightsteelblue
Linen
Magenta
Maroon
Mediumaquamarine
Mediumblue
Mediumorchid
Mediumpurple
Mediumseagreen
Mediumslateblue
Mediumspringgreen
Mediumturquoise
Mediumvioletred
Midnightblue
Mintcream
Mistyrose
Moccasin
Navajowhite
Navy
Oldlace
Olive
Olivedrab
Orange
Orangered
Orchid
Palegoldenrod
Palegreen
Paleturquoise
Palevioletred
Papayawhip
Peachpuff
Peru
Pink
Plum
Powderblue
Purple
Red
Rosybrown
Royalblue
Saddlebrown
Salmon
Sandybrown
Seagreen
Seashell
Sienna
Silver
Skyblue
Slateblue
Slategray
Snow
Springgreen
Steelblue
Tan
Teal
Thistle
Tomato
Turquoise
Violet
Wheat
White
Whitesmoke
Yellow
YellowgreenOther collections of resources about Friendica
- This LinkTree by @[url=https://friendica.me/profile/sarah]Sarah Maginness[/url] Peck (LinkTree is more popular on mainstream social networks, so consider sending that if this post of mine is too cumbersome
- A webpage that I'm gonna create and link here. While Friendica is quite flexible and allows for text to be customized and formatted in multiple ways, I think a website should also be nice (plus I just discovered Google Sites and I wanna play around) - TBD
♲ @FediTips@social.growyourown.services:Years ago I used to recommend a Fedi platform called Lemmy. However, in 2021 some very disturbing stuff about Lemmy's developers came out which totally changed my mind. Because of this, I did a thread to warn people about Lemmy and then never mentioned them again.
Today a mod on this account's old server deleted the 2021 thread, without any explanation but apparently by mistake.If you're looking for the thread, it's on the Internet Archive:
Kristi H. likes this.
Michael 🇺🇦
in reply to Kristi H. • • •You find a short explanation of all channels in the help: friendica.world/help/Channels
The problem with the flexibility is always that it tends to make things more complicated.
wilhelm
in reply to Kristi H. • • •Agree that it would be a good idea to reduce the default active channel selection. It is confusing, overwhelming and scary to new users. More advanced and experience users can always toggle channels.
Terminology seems inconsistent calling them channels in one place and Timelines in another.
Friendica Support reshared this.
Cătă
in reply to wilhelm • • •@wilhelm That's because they were timelines before. Channels are a newer addition and, frankly, I did not expect them to be the default way of serving content via the feed. Probably the team will think of a better way to integrate these though 😁
@Kristi H.