Joining Babka!

Babka is a new, more positive kind of online community where you can be unapologetically Jewish

Life on social media can be dishearteningly antisocial at times. As Jews we often brace ourselves when we log into social media for the threat of antisemitism. That’s why we are building a community together where a diverse range of Jews and Jewish allies around the world can come together to talk, support, celebrate, and share. Babka’s mission is to serve the Jewish community, meaning that it is designed around the needs of the Jewish community and Jewish values, and anyone friendly to the Jewish community is welcome.

Babka Social is our social media platform and it’s built on Mastodon, a popular social platform that is a part of the Fediverse, an alliance of different social media sites that can all connect with each other.

Join Babka to try it out for yourself right now! We’ll walk you through how to join and get started!

Go to babka.social and click on the button on the top right that says “Login or Register”.

That will take you to the login page. Click on “Register” on the bottom to enter your information and sign up.

Your username is a bit like the first part of your email address, so pick something you like, such as your name, or a nickname.

You need to agree to the terms of service and verify your email address by clicking on the link in the email you receive.

Mazal tov, you’re in! (If you are moving here from another Mastodon site, you can skip the rest of this article and read how to migrate your data and followers.)

Getting started

Using Babka Social is all about following people so you can see what they are sharing and join in the conversation. When you first see the home page, the timeline in the middle will be blank, so click on “See some suggestions” to get started with people to follow. Click on the plus sign to the right of each account you want to follow. Don’t worry about following too many, because you can just as easily unfollow them later!

Next, fill out your profile so others can see who you are. Click on “Edit profile” under your username in the top left. Fill out a few sentences about yourself and your interests in the “Bio” section. Upload an image to represent you where it says “Avatar”. Then, click “Save changes” on the top right. Click on the big Mastodon logo on the top left to return to the home page.

Make yourself at home

It’s time to familiarize yourself with the different things you can do on the platform. If you’re using the website, on the left column, you can search, look at your profile, or publish a post. The middle is the timeline of posts. The right column has a bunch of useful links, including places to check notifications and change your settings. There are four different timelines available. “Home” shows posts from people you follow. “Local” shows posts from everyone on Babka. “Federated” shows posts from all the accounts people on Babka are following, including those on other social media sites. Finally, “Direct messages” shows posts which can only be seen by accounts named in the post.

Take a look at “Local” to see what others are sharing on Babka Social and join in the conversation. Try “Federated” to see posts from across the Fediverse!

If you see something you like, click on the profile image to go to the author’s profile and follow them for more. If you decide later that you don’t want to follow them, just go back to their profile page and click the button again to stop following them.

Wow, we’ve gone through a lot in a short time!

Welcome to our growing community! We look forward to getting to know you!