Bluesky Social

Good morning, and happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're talking about Bluesky, the Twitter replacement. This little app that could has over twenty-one million users as of now, probably due to the mass exodus of X (the app formerly known as Twitter). We'll dive into all the ways it's similar to the Twitter of old, and I'll show you a few things you might not have known about. Ready? Get cozy, grab a cup of coffee, and let's get going!

So, Bluesky. What is it? Where did it come from? How can you use it? What are the awesome features it has that you may not know about? How can you sign up? These are the questions we'll answer today. If you happen to have other questions, feel free to drop them in the comments, and I'll do my level best to find out for you.

What is Bluesky?

Well, it's a mobile and web app that's rather like the Twitter of old. You can post short, to-the-point sentences and use hashtags or media to enhance said post. You can create specific feeds, follow and block, and even send DMs.

Where the heck did Bluesky come from?

According to Britannica, it's actually been around a long time (since 2019), but it's only recently (2023) become available to the public. It's biggest growth happened last year when Twitter changed its name to X and the CEO changed the company's direction. X is being changed to an "everything" platform, while Bluesky will continue to be more like Twitter (but with differences). Add to that, Bluesky is open source, meaning you can tweak it. More on that later...

Is anyone else bored with these answers? I am. Let's get into the fun stuff.

Sign up by clicking here. It's super easy and only takes a few minutes. You can also download the app for iPhone or Android, so you can use it on your phone. Once you do that, you'll be able to navigate to settings:

As you can see, you have options to change quite a few things:

• Add another account
• Account
  
• Privacy and security
• Moderation
• Content and media
• Appearance
• Accessibility
• Languages

You also have the ever-needed Help and About sections.

• Add another account - This allows you to have another handle (username) with a different email address.
• Account - If you click this one, you can change your password, birthday, etc.
• Privacy and security - You can enable two-factor authentication (recommended), and prevent users of the app from seeing you when they're logged out. Because it's an open-source platform, other apps may still be able to see your profile. Just click it and do some reading/exploring.
• Moderation - This option is rather vast, so I suggest checking it out and getting into the nitty gritty, but on a basic level, you can hide nudity (artistic--other nudity isn't allowed), block, or select keywords to unsee.
• Content and media - Manage saved feeds (more in a minute), allow auto-play for other apps, and get down in the nuts and bolts of your follow feed. This app lets you create your own experience, so learning how to use all these things can only help you.
• Appearance - Choose your color mode, size of the text (yay!), theme (dark/light), and font here.
• Accessibility - Alt texts requirements. This is for folks who use a reading app for sites. It tells them what the image is as a descriptor.
• Languages - You can choose from a bajillion languages for your feed, the app, and your content.

When you click your profile from the menu on the left:

 You'll see these options:

That partially hidden one is Lists.

This is your stuff. Your posts, replies, media, etc. HOWEVER, this is where you can have some fun! If you click on Feeds, you'll see only posts from the feeds (#) you've chosen. If you'd like to add Feeds to this section, click Feeds in the menu on the left and make some choices. Just click the + icon at the left of the feed to add it to your list. Very cool, right?

Let's go a little deeper.

If I click on the Artists: Trending feed, this is the first post:

and if I click on that, I get this:

It tells you exactly how to join and participate in that feed. There's a TON more information on that page, so scroll down and read!

Now, let's go into how you start your own kind of community. If you click on Starter Pack, it allows you to either have one begun for you or for you to create one yourself. You name it, add stuff, and invite people.

Last, but certainly not least, you can make yourself Lists. This is a throwback from Twitter, and I had a ton of lists there so I could only see the people I wanted to see. To add someone to a list, first create a new list by clicking Lists on the menu on the left, then click the three dots on the person's profile page who you'd like to add, select add to Lists, and then choose which list you'd like them on.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

There are a ton of things you can do with Bluesky as a developer, but most people I know just want to see what they want to see, so this quicky walked you through that. You can add apps on the platform to do other things, and if you're into that, by all means... This is just what I could reasonably fit into a single blog post. :)

I hope this post helps you get the most out of your Bluesky experience and that you enjoyed the read! :D

Also, if you'd like to connect on Bluesky, I'm here.

That's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo