The Mastodon Hashtag-Search Data Collector module can retrieve recent public posts and replies that include a specified hashtag from a specified Mastodon server (aka Instance). The collector does not require a Mastodon account or API key at this time.
Note: Due to Mastodon API rate limits (1 request per second), collection may take 30 seconds or longer. It is generally slower than Reddit or Telegram collection.
Visit the Mastodon Data Structure page to learn more about the types of data collected by Communalytic via the Mastodon API.
Step 1 #
Click Collect Data in the left-side panel (located under the Create section), then select the Hashtag Posts button within the Mastodon group.
Step 2 #
Name your dataset, enter the name of the public Mastodon server where you wish to collect from and finally, enter your chosen hashtag. For a list of public Mastodon servers, aka Instances, visit https://joinmastodon.org/server or https://mastodonservers.net/servers/top
For example, the request below will collect recent public posts from “mstdn.party” containing the “#Friday” hashtag.
Note 1: The Hashtag Search Collector can only collect one hashtag per query.
Note 2: Communalytic will collect replies to original/thread-starting posts and replies to replies. However, these replies may or may not contain the specified hashtag, but the parent post, that is, the original post that started the thread, will contain the hashtag.
Step 3 #
Select the maximum number of recent posts to collect from the drop-down menu.
Step 4 #
Click the Start Data Collection button.
Once collected, you can view the results in your Workspace -> My Datasets. To understand the specific metadata fields retrieved (such as dates, engagement counts, and URLs), please visit the Mastodon Data Structure page.