There are many different kinds of discussion groups on the Fediverse, but the most common works like this:
- To join a group, follow the group’s account from Mastodon etc
- After you’ve followed a group’s account, posts from that group will start showing up in your main timeline
- If you want to post something to a group you follow, mention the group in your post
- If you want to leave a group, unfollow it
It’s somewhat similar to following hashtags, and people who have used email discussion lists will also find this structure very familiar. However, groups federate posts much more effectively than hashtags, and people on smaller servers will find them especially useful in discovering posts from all over the Fediverse.
The main Fediverse group provider at the moment is FediGroups ⧉. It’s platform-neutral, their groups can be followed from all kinds of Fediverse servers including Mastodon, GoToSocial, Friendica etc.
Where can I discover existing groups?
I’ve compiled a curated list of interesting Fediverse groups on fedi.directory ⧉. I’ve tried to only list active groups with a respectful atmosphere.
FediGroups has an official list of public groups on their website ⧉.
You can also try searching for @fedigroups.social in the search box on Mastodon, this will show FediGroups groups that at least one person on your server is following. However, bear in mind if a group has no followers from your server it won’t show up in searches.
How can I create a group? Are the groups moderated? What if I see something unsuitable?
FediGroups can be created by applying to set up a group using the form on their website’s front page ⧉.
The person who sets up the group may optionally decide to screen who can join the group, and you may have to wait for the group moderator to approve you joining. The moderator of a group that requires approval may kick people out of the group if they misbehave.
What do I do if I see spam or something unsuitable in a group?
Do exactly the same thing you would do if you saw spam/abuse outside the group on ordinary posts. Whatever kind of group you are following, you can report, mute and block just like you can with ordinary non-group posts.
When you report bad posts, admins on your server can take action to block it and remove it. Admins on the bad person’s server can also take action if you select the option to forward your report anonymously.
Are there private groups?
Some FediGroups are private so that only the members can see their posts. However, bear in mind that like all social networks there is no end-to-end encryption so you should still avoid posting sensitive information.
What if a group is really busy? How do I stop it overwhelming my timeline?
You can use Mastodon’s Lists feature to set up separate Lists for groups, and then set those Lists to hide posts from your Home timeline. This will let you keep groups in their own mini-timelines you can dip into whenever you want, without causing any posts to appear in your main timeline.
Groups federate content more effectively than hashtags
Hashtag follows and groups have some overlap, and appear to work in a similar way on the surface, but there are important differences behind the scenes.
The biggest advantage of groups is you automatically see all of the group’s posts, even if they’re from accounts that haven’t federated to your server before. Because all the group’s posts are shared to all the members’ servers, you never miss a thing.
With hashtag follows, this mass federation doesn’t happen. Hashtag following means you will only see posts from accounts that already federate with your server. Hashtags are essentially passive filters for your server’s Federated timeline and do not actively draw in any new content.
What about Mastodon’s own built-in groups feature?
Mastodon has been developing a built-in groups feature for some time now, but it hasn’t been released yet. From the screenshots posted so far, it seems it will be more of a Facebook Groups type forum rather than a public discussion list. (You can see highly technical details and screenshots of this upcoming Groups feature on their github page ⧉).
However, it is unclear if Mastodon groups will work across the Fediverse or only on Mastodon.
Groups on Friendica
The Fediverse server type Friendica includes built-in group support, which works in a broadly similar way to Guppe. Creating a Friendica group requires a Friendica account, but anyone can join the group from other Fediverse server types including Mastodon servers.
A Friendica group can be moderated by the person who created it, and they can also add additional moderators to the same group.
What happened to Guppe groups?
In September 2025 the Guppe groups service ran into insurmountable technical problems when their domain name gup.pe was taken from them before it had expired. This was apparently due to unusual registration legal terms which allowed anyone to buy the domain 12 days before it expired. Many of the prominent former Guppe groups set up again over on FediGroups.