For independent journalists who are also affiliated to one or more established news organizations, the federated web offers a way to build your personal brand and grow your audience alongside and separate from your employer. Each platform serves a distinct purpose: Mastodon is well-suited for community conversation, Bluesky can function as a professional hub for networking and visibility for your work, and Ghost can serve as a personal portfolio or customizable publishing home.
When making a Mastodon account, look to join your news organization’s server, if they already have one. This is where you’ll find an audience interested and responsive to your work, and you can link your stories published through the organization in the server. You should also choose a main server that aligns with your beat or reporting interests. As an independent journalist, this is where you’ll find sources are or other journalists who publish similar content.
In all servers, introduce yourself in the #introduction hashtag and make a strong effort to engage with the server’s community — this is a great way to get direct feedback from a concentrated focus group.
“The Forkiverse” is a Mastodon server administered by Kevin Roose, a NYT-affiliated journalist. While we recommend joining existing communities, journalists with unique contributions and niche communities can also own and operate their own instances on Mastodon.
Bluesky is also a platform where many journalists have gathered. Journalists on Bluesky report on all different beats, from politics to sports to technology.
Unlike X, Bluesky’s algorithm doesn’t devalue posts that link to external webpages. Therefore, consider linking your stories from external news organization webpages onto Bluesky for additional visibility.
To join communities on Bluesky, you can look for official or unofficial Starter Packs that include other journalists who report for your news organization, as well as packs related to your beat, location, or expertise. Through packs, you’ll be able to connect to a larger audience who is deeply interested in your specific work, as well as other journalists, who can serve as potential reporting partners, friends, or inspiration.
You can also follow or build out custom news feeds, which can help you build an audience around a niche, or give you real-time updates on the news and issues afflicting said niche.
A news feed independently created by Ændra Rininsland, an engineer at the Financial Times.
Beyond reporting, Bluesky is a great place to showcase your personality, humor, and interests to build trust and rapport with your audience.
A humorous repost on Casey Newton’s Bluesky account. Newton is an independent journalist who also hosts NYT podcast “Hard Fork” with Roose.
Getting verified with your news organization’s domain can also help you build credibility with viewers. Beyond official verification, aim to list your affiliation in your account’s bio.
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Tip: There are two layers of verification
Ghost offers simplified website and newsletter features, alongside integration into other federated platforms. For independent journalists that are only marginally attached to larger news organizations, Ghost can enable you to offer content that is exclusive and not published elsewhere, behind a paywall for an existing audience of subscribers.
We’ve talked with journalists without a tech background, and though the analytics may run simple, they note that set up and easy management of Ghost makes it attractive to use.
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Building out a website and newsletter on Ghost also enables journalists to express their personal brand. For independent journalists, this could be one way to differentiate yourself from the existing brands of affiliated news organizations.
Platformer is an online newsletter founded by Casey Newton, an independent journalist who reports “at the intersection of technology, democracy, and AI,” according to his website. He also co-hosts “Hard Fork,” a New York Times podcast.
Platformer’s home page.
By offering both free and paid article options — differentiated with a lock symbol next to the byline — Newton incentivizes frequent readers to buy subscriptions, of which owners of websites and newsletters on Ghost can take the full cut of.
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