Right here’s some cool stuff you are able to do with Bluesky

So, you’ve lastly determined to offer Bluesky a shot. The social community has come a good distance because the early bare-bones days of invite-only signups and just lately grew previous the 15 million consumer mark. Alongside the way in which, it’s gathered plenty of acquainted posting platform options, like direct messages, pinned posts, and the power to put up movies as much as 60 seconds in size.

However there’s much more to it than that, and I’m not solely speaking about lore. (Sure, Bluesky has lore, and that’s most likely probably the most traditional Twitter factor about it.) It’s additionally bought numerous options and settings you received’t discover on X or Threads, like the power to decide on your personal algorithm or moderation instruments. These serve not simply as a quick lane to getting the platform to really feel energetic however also can create the sensation that you just, the consumer, are in charge of your expertise.

Right here’s a primer on getting in control on Bluesky.

Bluesky’s Following feed is a straightforward chronological feed of posts from folks you comply with. However you may as well customise whether or not it reveals replies, reposts, quote posts, and / or samples out of your customized feeds — setting all of those to “off” means your Following feed will solely show posts from folks you comply with. You’ll discover these choices in Settings > Following Feed Preferences.

The platform additionally helps you to resolve the way you’d wish to see reply threads by going to Settings > Thread Preferences. Right here, you possibly can kind by oldest, latest, most-liked replies, or have them randomly sorted. (Bluesky additionally calls this “Poster’s Roulette.”) There’s an choice to prioritize folks you comply with in a reply thread in addition to an experimental Threaded Mode possibility for displaying replies as Reddit-like nested threads.

Whereas Bluesky presents two algorithmic feeds to start out — “Uncover” and “In style With Associates” — issues begin to get much more enjoyable whenever you get into customized feeds. Bluesky itself has made some, however a lot of the customized feeds are user-created.

These feeds are highly effective, making it straightforward to search out individuals who share your pursuits, see solely sure sorts of content material, or kind by your personal posts. Desire a feed of cat photos? You bought it. Desirous about seeing which of your posts has carried out one of the best? You’ll need the “My Bangers” feed.

To take a look at the customized feeds:

• Faucet the three strains icon within the higher left to summon the sidebar.
• Within the sidebar, choose Feeds.
• Seek for a feed or scroll by them to choose those you want.
• Click on or faucet on particular person feeds to preview them.
• To comply with a feed from the Feeds web page, click on on the person feed, choose the three dots within the higher nook, after which choose Save to my feeds. It would now seem on the high of your Feeds listing.
• To comply with a feed from Bluesky’s homescreen, faucet Pin to House on the high. Now, it can seem as a tab on the high of that display.

One other straightforward technique to discover Bluesky accounts to comply with is Starter Packs. These are prepackaged lists of accounts, usually chosen round a theme. Bluesky’s crew has made a few of these, however there are additionally 1000’s of user-made lists containing accounts that always put up about particular subjects or are a part of sure teams. (The Verge even has one; you could find it proper right here.)

Bluesky hasn’t made Starter Packs searchable but, so the one manner you’ll discover them is by looking outdoors of the platform (I like this listing), recognizing them after they’re posted by different customers, or having them despatched to you. When you discover a Starter Pack you want, simply click on the Comply with all button on the high of the display to, you recognize, comply with all of them, or choose the Comply with button by particular person accounts in the event you’re feeling picky.

And if you wish to create your personal Starter Pack, it isn’t tough: Bluesky has instructions proper right here.

Like Mastodon, Bluesky is a federated platform, besides it makes use of AT Protocol as an alternative of ActivityPub. As such, you possibly can decide your personal area identify suffix on your deal with. You’ll must both personal that area or get it from one other service, corresponding to Threads. A phrase of warning, although: when you’ve carried out this, your deal with / area identify combo is now free for another person to take. (Bluesky says that “any tags or mentions along with your previous deal with will nonetheless level to your account,” although.)

To modify to a customized area:

• Choose Settings > Change Deal with.
• Select I’ve my very own area.
• Enter your area, and choose Copy Area Worth, which copies the string of textual content on the finish of the file.
• Navigate to your area registrar (the corporate you acquire the area from) and discover an possibility labeled Handle DNS or related.

• Add a TXT file and enter the file data you gathered from Bluesky. Observe: this course of differs between area identify suppliers, so it’s possible you’ll must search for directions, corresponding to those I’ve linked right here for fashionable registrars GoDaddy and Squarespace.
• When you’ve saved the file, wait a couple of minutes, return to Bluesky, and choose Confirm DNS Report. A inexperienced banner within the Change Deal with field will seem to let you recognize you succeeded.

Like X and Threads, you possibly can pin posts to the highest of your account. Right here’s how:

• Navigate to the put up you need to pin.
• Choose the three dots beneath the put up.
• Choose Pin to your profile.

Bluesky’s moderation is buttressed by Labelers, that are third-party companies that may tag accounts or content material, both for informational functions or for moderation. The tags are wide-ranging and can be utilized to cover issues like posts with GIFs, crypto scammer accounts, model accounts, or phobia triggers.

It goes far past that, although. Some use it as a handy technique to show or view pronouns, discover followers of their favourite sports activities groups, and even play text-based video games by Labelers like this TTRPG one. Every one differs in its use and normally presents directions for utilizing it. Additionally, Bluesky doesn’t presently have a built-in technique to discover Labelers, however there are lists and instruments for that.

To make use of a Labeler when you’ve discovered one you want:

• Navigate to its Bluesky web page.
• Choose Subscribe to Labeler.

If it has a listing of labels to customise, decide an possibility for every:
Off: to maintain the label off.
Present badge: to see the label when utilized to content material or accounts.
Conceal: to cover content material or accounts with that label.

In case you resolve you need to change these alternatives later, you are able to do so by going to Settings > Moderation and choosing the Labeler from the Superior part.

Bluesky helps you to create passwords for different apps to make use of. That is useful in the event you like to make use of apps — like third-party shopper Graysky — that reap the benefits of the Bluesky API however don’t need to give them your everlasting password. Right here’s how you are able to do that.

• Navigate to Settings > App Passwords (Beneath Superior).
• Choose Add App Password.
• Enter a reputation for the password or use the one Bluesky generates.
• If you wish to let the app use direct messaging, tick the Permit entry to your direct messages field. Observe: you possibly can’t change this feature later; you possibly can solely delete the password and create a brand new one for that app.
• Choose Create App Password.