Been doing some light reading on mastodon this weekend. Unconnected, ill-informed thoughts follow.
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Right now, instances are the closest corollary to communities. Ideally, your instance is populated by people who are similar enough to you in enough ways that your conversations are rewarding, and your federated timeline more relevant than not.
@nicole
I've been doing the same and had similar thoughts. Communities are exactly what comes to mind. I read an article that the instance you choose doesn't really matter. But it def seems to in my limited exp.