How to Cross-Post from Mastodon to Facebook Automatically

Post natively on Mastodon and Ferryman automatically syncs every new post to Facebook — no copy-paste, no workflow change. Set up in under two minutes.

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Why cross-post from Mastodon to Facebook

Mastodon and Facebook reach genuinely different audiences. Mastodon is federated, instance-driven communities — strong technical, academic, and open-source presence. Facebook, by contrast, is the broadest reach of any social platform — Pages put your content in front of a general, multi-generational audience.

Page posts surface in followers' feeds and are discoverable via shares. Strong for link distribution and community building. If you're already putting in the effort to write good posts on Mastodon, there's no reason that work shouldn't reach a Facebook audience too — except that maintaining two presences manually is exhausting and easy to abandon. That's the problem Ferryman exists to solve.

Key differences between Mastodon and Facebook

Cross-posting isn't just a copy-paste. The two platforms have different limits and conventions, and Ferryman handles each difference so you don't have to think about it.

Capability	Mastodon	Facebook
Character limit	500	63,206
Images per post	4	30
Alt text on images	Yes	No
Video support	Up to 1:00	Up to 10:00
Native threading	Yes	No

Facebook's 63,206-character limit gives you 62706 more characters than Mastodon's 500. Posts that fit on Mastodon always fit on Facebook.

What gets synced

Original posts (replies and quote posts are off by default and can be enabled)
Images up to 30 per post, with alt text added where supported
Videos up to 600-second length on Facebook (Creator plan)
Links — Ferryman preserves URLs and link cards where Facebook supports them
Hashtags and mentions are preserved as-is; platform-specific mention syntax is rewritten
Posts fit Facebook's 63206-character limit without splitting

Set up Mastodon → Facebook cross-posting

Sign in to Ferryman with your X account. This is how Ferryman authenticates you — you can still set Mastodon as your origin platform afterwards.
Go to Settings and connect your Mastodon account. This is the platform you'll post on natively.
Connect your Facebook account in Settings. See the Facebook integration guide for the exact steps.
Set Mastodon as your origin platform and check Facebook as a target. Toggle cross-posting on, and Ferryman will sync new Mastodon posts to Facebook within a few minutes.

Edge cases worth knowing

Skip a specific post: include #noferry anywhere in your Mastodon post and Ferryman won't sync it to Facebook.
Replies and quote posts: off by default. You can enable them in Settings if you want your Mastodon conversations to appear on Facebook too.
Threads on Mastodon: Facebook doesn't have native threading, so Ferryman joins thread parts into a single longer post where it fits.
Editing or deleting: Ferryman doesn't propagate edits or deletions automatically. Each platform keeps its own copy once posted.
Scheduling: Use Ferryman's planner to schedule a post and Ferryman publishes to Mastodon and Facebook at the same time.

Manual cross-posting vs. Ferryman

Task	Manual	Ferryman
Cross-post a new Mastodon post	Copy text, re-upload images, rewrite mentions	Automatic, within minutes
Handle character-limit differences	Rewrite or split by hand	Posts fit Facebook's 63206-character limit without splitting
Preserve alt text on images	Retype every time	Added where supported
Skip specific posts	Remember to not cross-post	Add #noferry and you're done

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take for a Mastodon post to appear on Facebook?

Ferryman checks for new Mastodon posts every few minutes and syncs them to Facebook as they arrive. Most cross-posts go live on Facebook within five minutes of the original Mastodon post.

What happens if my Mastodon post is too long for Facebook?

Facebook's 63,206-character limit gives you 62706 more characters than Mastodon's 500. Posts that fit on Mastodon always fit on Facebook.

Are images and videos preserved when cross-posting from Mastodon to Facebook?

Yes. Images attached to your Mastodon post are uploaded to Facebook automatically, up to Facebook's limit of 30 per post. Videos are preserved when both platforms support them (Creator plan).

Can I cross-post one Mastodon post but skip another?

Yes. Include #noferry anywhere in a Mastodon post and Ferryman will skip syncing it to Facebook (and any other connected platforms).

Does Ferryman cross-post my Mastodon replies and quote posts?

By default, only original posts are cross-posted. You can opt in to syncing replies, quote posts, or reposts from your Ferryman settings.

Is cross-posting from Mastodon to Facebook free?

Ferryman has a free tier that covers cross-posting between Mastodon and Facebook. Paid plans unlock higher post volume, video cross-posting, and additional features like scheduling.

Related cross-post guides

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