Navigating the Bluesky 101
Handy hints and tips
You might have noticed that there has been a mass exodus to Bluesky from Twitter since the US Presidential election. The platform has been gaining speed considerably over the last few months. But with more functions enabled by its upgrades; the concern around online safety on Twitter due to the new ‘blocking’ rules and now the influence of Musk in the upcoming administration, there has been a significant uptick.
Yet, it’s not always easy to leave an established community on Twitter, especially if one is energy-limited. So, we’ve been Sky Geeking, so you hopefully don’t have to.
This article (which is also a thread on Bluesky) covers: CULTURE; ACCESSIBILITY; ENGAGEMENT; FINDING YOUR TRIBE; TWEAKS; COOL TOOLS and FUNKY BISCUITS.
☕CULTURE
There is a deliberate, distinct culture on Bluesky. It is designed to be anti-toxic and open source. That means it’s a starve trolls and antagonists of oxygen approach so:
Block strong, use your mute tools, don’t engage.
No quote dunking (this is where people repost with an aggressive or snarky remark)- you can also unhook your quote if someone quote dunks you or set no quotes like this 👇
💫ACCESSIBILITY
Since the beginning of Bluesky, there has been a strong emphasis on ALT Text & Accessibility. The rates that people are using is it is already going down, so do apply it.
In Settings there is a ‘require alt text’ button & other cool features. The disabled auto-play feature is also super handy.
Here are some good reasons to use ALT text: context - translation - screen readers & more
If you’re running out of steam to create alt text, you can use an ALT text generator 👇
👭FINDING YOUR TRIBE
There are numerous ways to find your tribe and customise your Bluesky.
STARTER PACKS
These are awesome ways to connect. You can find a directory of them here.
We also have a mega 🧵 of Long Covid, ME and Disability packs which you can search through to find community.
📝LISTS
These are also super cool to curate your Bluesky. They can include more people than a Starter Pack. You can make your own or follow others. To turn your list into a feed, press the pin to home button.
We have collated a series of lists that include:
Long Covid/ME: SCIENTIFIC - NEWS - ORGS - POLITICAL - COMMUNITY - VENTILATION
👩💻FEEDS
This is a broader way to find content you are interested in. Feeds capture hashtags, i.e. #LongCovid and keywords.
You can search feeds here on your feed panel & customise your profile by pinning and unpinning them. There are good ME/CFS and Long Covid feeds that pop up in the search.
There is another handy way to use feeds, and that is with the pushpin emoji. Just add it in the replies of a post you want to save and it will be saved in this ‘my pins feed’. It works very much like the Bookmark function in Twitter.
🕵️♀️ALGORITHM
This is where Bluesky gets funky. It is designed to be like the web. In fact your handle is like a mini web address/domain that’s why it’s - bsky.social
It does have an algorithm but it doesn’t corporately control it for evil. It just does a reverse chronological feed for you.
It is designed to be open and interoperable. So it won’t suppress your links, art, writing etc
Other platforms will suppress keywords, topics and sites. Like that other place deboosted Long Covid, COVID & Substack. So we can post away happily here without censorship 🥳
👋ENGAGEMENT
Bluesky runs differently. The engagement is driven by you, in a sense you are your own algorithm.
So, it’s reposting & commenting that’s emphasised, not likes. If you want engagement - engage meaningfully with the community.
You will likely find that your engagement here will be stronger with less followers. Why? Because of deboosting & chattiness & connection is the algorithmic choice!
Bluesky is also the no.1 app in the US & no.3 in the UK. So engagement will increase organically.
🏄♀️TWEAKS
It’s worth taking your time to fine tune your Bluesky. In SETTINGS there’s all sorts of tweaks - Accessibility - Moderation - Feed Preferences - Appearance.
Especially important if you have sensory limitations.
There is also a handy translate feature that will take you straight to Google Translate when you click on the 3 dots of a post (below the post on the right). In the Settings you can also adjust which languages you want to be included in your feed.
👩🎤COOL TOOLS
There are some really fun things to play with.
This website will show you some ANALYTICS so activity, punches, following graphs & what animal you are like! 🦚 Yes, apparently we are ‘Epic Famous Peacock Conversationalists!?’
If you need an ultra-safe site and need an extra-level customisable block tool then Blockenheimer is for you.
Need to fine tune your search you can find posts you are mentioned in or your own posts by searching:
from:me
mentions:me
More on search from Bluesky
If you need a way to transition your Twitter network to Bluesky you can use the Sky Follower Bridge - it works as an add-on with Firefox & Chrome.
One of the latest features that came in the new update this November was the ability to create threads. This has been a major tool for some awesome Science Communication on Twitter so it’s great to see it here. Only point would be to not create them on your mobile if you have to switch between screens as it does get lost, sometimes (as we found out)!
🍪FUNKY BISCUITS
Okay, there aren’t any biscuits, it’s just to keep us going.
Bluesky doesn’t hate-farm, it doesn’t boost clicks through doom. There are no ads, corporate interests, it’s federated - open & decentralised using the AT (atmosphere) Protocol. It’s old school.
To finish here’s a comprehensive sheet of tips.
Well done you made it to the end! ☕🍪
We hope this helps you find a home in the Bluesky. If you have any other handy tips do please include them in the comments. We are still learning too!
The final point is about ethics. There are good reasons to stay on Twitter and there are good reasons to leave. The issue we predominantly have in our community is having the spoons to actually move. It takes cognitive and emotional effort to start a new social platform. Yet, much of the work has been done, as there is an established community now on Bluesky, so it should be a soft landing. We are hoping this guide helps, as it can be shared with individuals and social media. But if you have severe or very severe ME and/or Long Covid and are struggling to move over you can DM us on Twitter and we will try to help.
Thank you for this helpful guide!