By now, you have in all probability heard about customers fleeing Elon Musk’s X. Sure, there have been just a few different moments over time since Musk acquired then-Twitter when customers determined to depart — there was even at the very least one try and create another Twitter earlier than possession by Musk was even seen as a chance.
However this time the exodus seems to be considerably greater. Following the 2024 presidential election outcomes and Musk’s help for President-elect Donald Trump, customers have been deactivating en masse.
And this time, it seems most everybody has settled on one specific X different: Bluesky.
Bluesky has so much in frequent with X. It is a related public city sq. kind microblogging-style platform. In truth, earlier than Musk took over then-Twitter, it acquired an funding from the corporate. Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey even sat on Bluesky’s board up till earlier this 12 months.
Bluesky has gained greater than 100,000 new signal ups per day for the reason that U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million customers. It is loved a chronic keep on the very high of Apple’s App Retailer charts as nicely.
Prepared to affix? Here is how you can get began on Bluesky:
How to join Bluesky
Not too way back, Bluesky was invite-only. New customers may solely be part of the platform in the event that they acquired an invite from an current consumer.
That is not the case anymore. Anybody can join Bluesky.
Credit score: Bluesky
To enroll, merely go to bsky.app and click on the Signal Up button. You will discover that each one the standard enter fields discovered when signing up for another social media platform are there similar to electronic mail, password, and birthday.
Credit score: Bluesky
Nonetheless, there’s one factor that is totally different: Internet hosting supplier. Mainly, Bluesky permits those that are extra tech-savvy to host their very own model of Bluesky, very like how different social media platform Mastodon has “instances.” Nonetheless, most customers simply do not have to fret about this. It won’t have an effect on their expertise in any respect. Simply hold Bluesky Social as your internet hosting supplier.
Mashable Mild Velocity
Credit score: Bluesky
On the subsequent web page, customers will be capable of decide their username. Select any out there identify and Bluesky will then add “.bsky.social” to the top of it. Why? As a result of Bluesky permits customers to make use of their very own web site area as their deal with. For instance, in case you personal YourName.com, your Bluesky deal with could possibly be “@YourName.com” on the platform. As soon as once more, this isn’t essential to get the total Bluesky expertise. Most customers will simply go by @YourName.bsky.social.
From there, Bluesky gives you the choice to add an avatar and decide subjects of curiosity in order that the platform can finest counsel accounts to comply with.
Easy methods to get began on Bluesky
Congratulations, you are in. Your Bluesky account is all setup and now you may get began.
You will discover that Bluesky appears so much like Elon Musk’s X, previously often called Twitter. There is a Uncover feed which is principally the For You feed with urged posts and content material. There is a Following feed, which solely consists of posts from different Bluesky customers that you just comply with.
Credit score: Bluesky
On the left hand facet menu, there is a Profile tab in your personal account and a Notifications tab that reveals who interacted and replied to your posts. The Chat tab is principally the equal of Direct Messages.
Because you’re new to Bluesky, you are going to wish to begin off by following some accounts. Utilizing the Search tab, yow will discover Instructed accounts really useful by the platform based mostly in your pursuits. You can too seek for particular individuals to see in the event that they’re additionally on Bluesky. For those who’re coming from Musk’s X, there is a third-party Chrome extension known as Sky Follower Bridge that may allow you to find the accounts you comply with on that platform that even have an account on Bluesky.
In all probability probably the most distinctive side of Bluesky is the pair of associated options: Lists and Feeds. You is likely to be pondering that Bluesky’s Lists characteristic is a bit like Twitter Lists, nevertheless, the Lists characteristic is way more integral to how Bluesky works than that.
Lists are a set of accounts that may be adopted, muted, or blocked in bulk. For instance, customers can create an inventory of Bluesky customers that they suppose all different customers enthusiastic about a sure subject or pastime ought to comply with. Different customers can then simply comply with that complete checklist of customers. On the flip facet, Bluesky customers have additionally compiled lists of accounts that publish hateful or extremist content material. Customers can simply block all of the customers on that Checklist and never see any of these account’s content material present up on their feed.
Credit score: Bluesky
Feeds however will not be lists of accounts, however curated feeds. Consider Feeds as personalized For You pages. There are Feeds for simply sure subjects like Science or Artwork, there are feeds with content material only for particular kinds of accounts, after which there are algorithmically based mostly customized feeds that rely on what’s at the moment fashionable on the positioning. By following a feed, you add a model new tab in your essential timeline to maintain up with alongside your Uncover and Following feed.
Credit score: Bluesky
However, it will get even simpler really. Bluesky lately launched a brand new characteristic known as “Starter Packs” which principally recommends customers and feeds so you may get began. Different customers may also curate their very own Starter Packs to assist their new followers discover extra accounts to comply with too. Simply go to your account’s profile web page and click on the Starter Packs tab to get began.
Able to publish
This may increasingly all sound a bit a lot, but it surely’s actually not. Simply keep in mind, you needed to get began someplace on X and different social media platforms to. And in case you’ve made it this far, you are able to publish. That is the half that is actually harking back to Twitter.
Credit score: Bluesky
Posts on Bluesky are restricted to 300 characters. Customers can publish images and .gifs as nicely. Bluesky additionally lately added video, which could be posted so long as the clip is 60 seconds or much less.
Customers can like content material by clicking the guts icon. They will additionally repost content material in addition to quote posts.
And there you go. That is all of the Bluesky fundamentals. Now there isn’t any excuse to not give an alternative choice to Musk’s X a attempt.
Subjects
Social Media
X/Twitter
