Pinned posts are posts that appear at the top of your profile page, above your normal posts. Many people use them as introductions, but they can be used for any purpose, for example artists often use them as mini-portfolios with images, video or audio attached.
To pin a post on Mastodon:
- Log in through your server’s website or the Mastodon web app or a third party app (the official apps don’t support pinning yet)
- Go to one of your own posts that you want to pin, click the ⋯ icon on the post and select Pin to profile.
If you change your mind, you can unpin a post by clicking ⋯ and selecting Unpin.
You can pin up to five posts on a profile, and reply to pinned posts to create pinned threads.
Pinned posts will be the first thing people see when they look at your profile, and for various technical reasons pinned posts will be more widely seen on the Fediverse than normal posts. (For technical people interested in this topic, Mastodon servers which encounter your account for the first time will automatically “backfill” all pinned posts on your profile. The backfilling also applies to the same user’s replies in pinned threads.)
Why would I use pinned posts when I already have a profile description?
Pinned posts let you greatly expand your profile description, allowing not just text but also images, audio and video. For example, artists might pin posts with their works attached as a portfolio.
You can also fit a lot more text onto pinned posts, especially if you use multiple pinned posts or if you pin a thread. If you create pinned threads, there is no limit at all because you can keep adding posts to a thread.
Also, on a technical note, pinned posts prevent your server ever looking blank to anyone. It’s a good idea to have at least one pinned post on your account to prevent it being blank.
How many posts can I pin? Can I pin threads too?
You can pin up to five posts at once on your Mastodon profile, and you can also reply to pinned posts to create pinned threads. By creating pinned threads, you can extend each pinned post’s content to be whatever length you want.
How do I reorder pinned posts?
The pinned posts are shown in the order they were pinned, with latest pinning at the top. To put a pinned post at the top, click on the post and then unpin it, then pin it again. You can use this technique to put the pinned posts in the correct order.
(NOTE: If you’re reordering pinned posts, don’t unpin a post without clicking on it first. When you unpin a post, it will disappear from the pinned section and it may be harder to find it again from amongst your ordinary posts. If you click on it first you will be taken to the enlarged view of the post, and it won’t disappear when you unpin.)
What if I don’t like pinned posts?
It’s still a good idea to have at least some kind of pinned post, however brief. It will ensure that your profile will never look blank, and will show people you are active.
If the official apps don’t support pinned posts, what’s the point of pinning them?
The additional federation of pinned posts happens regardless of what people use to view your profile. By pinning a post, you’re making sure that people will always see that post on your profile no matter what server they are on, and no matter what app or interface they use to view your profile.
People using official apps will always see a pinned post even if it doesn’t look pinned to them. If it wasn’t pinned, they might not see it.