The Mastodon Recent Data Collector retrieves recent public posts and replies 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 Recent Posts button within the Mastodon group.
Step 2 #
Name your dataset, then enter the name of the public Mastodon server you wish to collect from, for example, “mastodon.social” or “library.love”. Click here to see a list of Mastodon servers.
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.