To find people to follow on Pixelfed, you can use most of the same techniques and directories that Mastodon etc. users use.
How do I see trending posts on my Pixelfed server?
If you’re using Pixelfed through your server’s website or web app, you can browse trending posts by clicking the Discover button.
How do I see the latest posts on my Pixelfed server?
If you’re using the website or web app, click the Local Feed link. This will show the latest public images posted on your server.
How do I see the latest posts from other servers?
If you’re using the website or web app, click the Global Feed link. This will show all the latest public posts from accounts that your server has noticed, regardless of whether they’re on your server or other servers.
Can I follow non-Pixelfed accounts from Pixelfed? Can I follow Mastodon accounts from Pixelfed?
Yes! Pixelfed is not just about Pixelfed accounts. You can also follow non-Pixelfed accounts from elsewhere on the Fediverse like Mastodon etc. To follow a non-Pixelfed account, paste its Fediverse address into the search box within Pixelfed. The account’s profile will then appear in the search results and you can click Follow to follow it.
After you follow them, non-Pixelfed posts will start appearing in your timeline but they will look just like Pixelfed posts, and you can interact with them in exactly the same way. The process is so seamless you probably won’t notice they’re from another type of server.
Can I follow text-based accounts on Pixelfed?
You can follow them, but their text-only posts will not show up in your timeline on Pixelfed. You will only see their posts that have images or video clips attached.
It used to be possible to optionally display text-only posts by adjusting your settings on Pixelfed, but this feature seems to have been removed.
Note that links to videos don’t count as video clips from Pixelfed’s point of view. You will only see a video post show up on your Pixelfed feed if it has the video attached to the post itself.
My home feed seems to have photos in it even though I’m not following anyone yet?
Some servers will automatically have you follow certain accounts (often the admin’s own account), to prevent you seeing a blank feed when you first sign up. You can unfollow these accounts if you don’t want to see them.