Schedule Publishing Posts to Mastodon using Google Sheets and Hobo Socialbot

The mission is to give you the most powerful and efficient tools to manage your social media, directly from a workflow you already love. Today, we are incredibly excited to take a huge step forward by embracing the open web.

Please welcome our newest integrated platform: Mastodon!

While other platforms operate in walled gardens, Mastodon is a cornerstone of the “Fediverse”—a decentralised, interconnected network of independent communities. Integrating Mastodon isn’t just about adding another icon to our roster; it’s about aligning with a future where users have more control over their online presence.

Now, you can schedule and publish your content to your Mastodon community with the same effortless “set it and forget it” power you use for all your other networks in HoboSocial.

How it Works in Your Hobo Socialbot Sheet

The process will feel instantly familiar. In your “Vault” sheet, you’ll see two new columns:

• Mastodon Link: For the rare case you need a platform-specific link.
• Mastodon: Simply mark x or yes in this column to schedule that row’s content for your Mastodon account.

The main scheduler will pick it up, attach your image, and post it automatically, just like you’d expect.

The Setup Guide: Connecting Your Mastodon Account

Because Mastodon is decentralised, the setup process is a little different from other platforms, giving you more control. It requires you to create your own “Application” within your home Mastodon instance. Don’t worry, it’s a straightforward, one-time process.

Follow these steps exactly to get connected.

Step 1: Find Your Mastodon Instance URL

First, you need the web address of your specific Mastodon community. This is not just “mastodon.social” unless that’s where your account is.

• Log into your Mastodon account on your web browser.
• Look at the address bar. It might be fosstodon.org, mas.to, hachyderm.io, or something else.
• Copy this base URL (e.g., https://mastodon.social).
• Go to your Hobo Socialbot Settings sheet and paste this into the cell next to HoboSocial - Mastodon - Instance URL.

Step 2: Create a New “Application” on Mastodon

Now, we’ll tell your Mastodon account about Hobo Socialbot.

• On your Mastodon instance, go to Preferences > Development. (You can usually get there directly by going to https://[your-instance-url]/settings/applications).
• Click the “New Application” button.
• You will see a form. Fill it in as follows:
  • Application name: Give it a memorable name, like Hobo Socialbot Scheduler.
  • Redirect URI: This is the most critical step. Go back to your Hobo Socialbot Settings sheet. Find the value next to HoboSocial - Google App - Redirect URI and copy it exactly. Paste this value into the “Redirect URI” box on the Mastodon page.
  • Scopes: You need to grant HoboSocial permission to post for you. Uncheck everything except for read and write. Ensure both are checked.
• Click “Save changes“.

Step 3: Copy Your New Credentials

After saving, Mastodon will take you to a page showing the keys for your new application. We need to copy these into your HoboSocial sheet.

• Find the “Client key” on the Mastodon page. Copy it and paste it into the cell next to HoboSocial - Mastodon - Client ID in your sheet.
• Find the “Client secret” on the Mastodon page. Copy it and paste it into the cell next to HoboSocial - Mastodon - Client Secret in your sheet.
• Important: You can ignore the “Your access token” on this page. HoboSocial will get this securely in the next step. Your HoboSocial - Mastodon - Access Token cell should still be blank.

Your Mastodon settings section should now look like this:

• Instance URL: https://your-instance.com
• Client ID: (a long string of characters)
• Client Secret: (a long string of characters)
• Access Token: (blank)

Step 4: Authorise Hobo Socialbot

This is the final handshake that securely generates your Access Token.

• In your HoboSocial spreadsheet, go to the custom menu: HoboSocial Menu > Authenticate Platforms > Authorise Mastodon.
• A dialogue box will appear. Click the link to authorise.
• This will open a new browser tab asking you to authorise the “HoboSocial Scheduler” application you just created. Click Authorise.
• You will be redirected to a “Success!” page. You can now close this tab.

HoboSocial will have automatically retrieved the Access Token and saved it to the HoboSocial - Mastodon - Access Token cell for you.

That’s it! Your connection is now live. You can start adding x to the Mastodon column in your Vault and let HoboSocial handle the rest.

We’re thrilled to bring the power of the Fediverse to your workflow and can’t wait to see how you use it. As always, thank you for being on this journey with us.

Hobo Socialbot is a social media scheduler in Google Sheets that you can use to schedule unlimited posts to Mastodon. You can also schedule posts to LinkedIn, post to Facebook, post to X (Twitter), and also you can schedule posts to Bluesky.

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