Getting Started with Post
Janete Perez avatar
Written by Janete Perez
Updated over a week ago

Welcome to Post! I'm Janete, head of product at Post, and I'm excited to see so many new faces! Things have been moving very quickly at Post this last week. The OG Post beta testers remember a time when we didn't have PostTags/mentions or even a basic search. We released all those features within a week of launch, and we'll continue to make improvements quickly. We're kind of in that awkward still-in-beta-almost-a-real product phase, so please bear with us. There are many missing features, but your feedback is helping us prioritize and continue to make Post a better choice for everyone. Keep 'em coming, and please add ideas to our UserVoice.

Quick tip: when in doubt, refresh. We're making changes often, so if you get in a weird state, try a refresh :)

Getting Started

  1. Set up your profile: Our community will thrive when it's real people having real conversations. We encourage everyone to update their photo, description, and bio to get to know each other. You can edit your profile via the Profile Menu -> Edit Profile option.

    Note: You can also share your public profile with your friends, and they can view all of your posts. Only people with a Post account can comment on the posts. Twitter has changed its policy to prevent sharing a link to a Post profile but seems that cross-posting an article from a profile is ok. Check their support account for updates on this!

  2. Explore the feed: Your global "Explore" feed will be a great place to start exploring and getting to know our amazing little community here at Post. It's like the first day of school, and everyone is sharing intros, #PetsofPost pics, interesting ideas/links/photos. Once you start following people, the "Following" tab will include your personalized feed.

  3. Search for people: Many of you were invited by another Post user or by someone you follow on other platforms. You can search by a handle or full name now! Use only letters, no @ symbols in the search, spaces are ok. We are working on more improvements to search so you can filter results.

    Follow people: As you encounter people and ideas that sound interesting, tap on a person's profile and follow their account. You can see their following list to discover some new and existing friends. We frequently update our "Recommended Accounts to Follow" with a mixture of more known accounts that have a big following, and also share smaller accounts recommended by the community.

  4. Topics: You can currently view popular topics, and search for your favorite ones to filter posts by these keywords with specific #PostTags. See below for how to add #PostTags to your content.

  5. Compose a post: Now that you have your profile set up and get a sense of the vibe on the feed (so many fascinating people and ideas!)...try writing a post! The global feed is currently one big welcome party! Share a photo, get creative with the typography, and try the paywall options via the Settings menu.

    Currently, all posts can be viewed by anyone and can be free or paid. We'll soon add more styling updates, better image support, and options to adjust audience and paywall options.


    Some tips on the composer:

    • no character limit (yay!)

    • Short posts can be up to 280 characters

    • Long posts can be any length. The first 280 characters will show in the feed as the intro, and a "Read" button allows users to expand the longer content.

    • The title field appears after 140 characters

    • You can add hyperlinks and images. Video coming soon!

  6. PostTags & @Mentions: We support #PostTags now! Soon you will be able to follow PostTags and have discussions around topics. To create a PostTag, you need to enter a space after the tag to create links like this:

    @Mentions: You can also add an @mentions by typing "@"; a drop-down menu will display with recommendations; you can then select an option and... ta-dah! You will see the @mention appear as a blue link (see "@noam" above). Tapping the @mentions navigates you to the user profile.

  7. Reposting: There are two ways to repost.
    Quick Repost: The left image below shows a "Quick Repost" which enables you to share a post with your followers with the original post's likes, tips, and comments. Any new interactions will apply to the original post and creator.

    Reposts with comments: The right image is a "Repost with a comment." This shows new likes, tips, and comment counts that apply to the new post and the repost creator. This enables people to share their ideas and thoughts about a post that adds more content, and people can show their support for the additional context.

    In the above examples, my left Quick Repost allows likes and tips to apply to Becca. The right example is a Repost with a comment, so the likes and tips apply to me since I wrote an entire article about the new repost functionality. Any tips the Post teams receives is gifted back to the community :)

  8. Comment on posts: You can tap the comment icon on the feed and add a comment, send replies, and join in on some fun conversations.

    Moderation: our comment moderation system is currently being fine-tuned and everything is reviewed by a real person. We currently auto-quarantine comments that are threatening or attacking users on the platform. Context is everything, so occasionally, comments get quarantined that are actually allowed. Our support team is working to manage and improve the settings. Help keep our community safe by reporting any issues via the reporting tools!

  9. Muting: We are working on releasing an update with blocking functionality. Currently, we do have the ability to mute a person's comments or posts. Muting a person in the comments section will hide any comments from that person. You can also learn more about muting a person's posts here so you can hide posts from people in the feed.

    This menu shows the reporting and mute options for comments.

    This menu shows the Muting and Reporting options for a Post.

  10. Notifications: We currently have notifications for comment-related actions. We are working on Post level notifications (coming soon!). The notifications icon will show a blue dot when you have unread notifications. Tapping the notification icon shows you a popup, and tapping any items will show you more information.

    Currently supported notifications: likes on a comment, replies to a comment, @ mentions on a comment. More notifications around follows, post likes, @ mentions, and tipping coming soon!

    Manage Notifications: You can adjust and manage your notification settings by tapping the settings icon. For example, I like getting emails for replies and mentions but not likes.

  11. Support individual creators: At Post, we don't have ads, and our community thrives with support from one another. Our goal is to provide you with tools to enable your audience to engage with your content in more unique ways. You can add paywalls for your content and receive micropayments from your followers. You can also send a tip to show support and appreciation for those creating space for meaningful conversations. 100% of tips go to the creator.

    Tip on a post:

    Tip on a profile:

  12. Share on social media: All posts and profiles can be publicly shared on other platforms. Our intent is to continue to invite people to join Post from our waitlist. In the meantime, you can share interesting posts with friends, especially people you think might want to be part of our community. While content can be read publicly, they must sign up for the waitlist to interact and participate in the community. We're working hard to build safety tools like blocking and better content moderation before we open up the beta to a wider audience.
    Note again: Twitter has changed its policy to prevent sharing a link to a Post profile but seems like cross-posting a post article link is on. Check their support account for updates on this!

  13. Install the Web App: Post is a web-based application that enables any user on any device to access the platform. Being a web app allowed us to release features much quicker than we would with a native mobile application. The good news is that you can add a shortcut to Post.News to your home screen with a few clicks:


    Android

    1. Open Chrome.

    2. Tap the menu icon (3 dots in the upper right-hand corner) and tap Add to homescreen.

    3. Choose a name for the website shortcut, then Chrome will add it to your home screen.

    iOS:

I love all the #PostTips that I’ve seen on the feed, with people sharing so much useful information about the product. Take a look at that PostTag for more suggestions from our community. Visit our FAQ to learn more about Post and get more info about the product. Finally, if you have bugs or feedback, you can report them here, and follow @Post to get updates on upcoming releases.

Our community will continue to grow stronger as long as we keep inspiring each other to participate in civil discussions, create meaningful connections, and help each other feel smarter after spending time on Post. It brings me so much joy to see so many of you sharing ideas on how to make Post a better choice for everyone. We're working hard to provide you with all the tools to continue to create magic together!

The Post team thanks you for your support, and we can't wait to show you all the upcoming product improvements!

Thank you! <3

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