Here’s some cool stuff you can do with Bluesky

Metavives November 16, 2024

Vector illustration showing various aspects of the Bluesky app. — Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

So, you’ve finally decided to give Bluesky a shot. The social network has come a long way since the early bare-bones days of invite-only signups and recently grew past the 15 million user mark. Along the way, it’s gathered a lot of familiar posting platform features, like direct messages, pinned posts, and the ability to post videos up to 60 seconds in length.

But there’s a lot more to it than that, and I’m not only talking about lore. (Yes, Bluesky has lore, and that’s probably the most classic Twitter thing about it.) It’s also got a number of features and settings you won’t find on X or Threads, like the ability to choose your own algorithm or moderation tools. These serve not just as a fast lane to getting the platform to feel lively but can also create the feeling that you, the user, are in control of your experience.

Here’s a primer on getting up to speed on Bluesky.

Some basics

Bluesky’s Following feed is a simple chronological feed of posts from people you follow. But you can also customize whether it shows replies, reposts, quote posts, and / or samples from your custom feeds — setting all of these to “off” means your Following feed will only display posts from people you follow. You’ll find these options in Settings > Following Feed Preferences.

The platform also lets you decide how you’d like to see reply threads by going to Settings > Thread Preferences. Here, you can sort by oldest, newest, most-liked replies, or have them randomly sorted. (Bluesky also calls this “Poster’s Roulette.”) There’s an option to prioritize people you follow in a reply thread as well as an experimental Threaded Mode option for showing replies as Reddit-like nested threads.

Custom algorithmic feeds

Screenshot of Bluesky’s custom feeds list. — *Bluesky’s custom algorithmic feeds are a great way to get started without following anyone at all.*

While Bluesky offers two algorithmic feeds to start — “Discover” and “Popular With Friends” — things start to get a lot more fun when you get into custom feeds. Bluesky itself has made some, but most of the custom feeds are user-created.

These feeds are powerful, making it easy to find people who share your interests, see only certain types of content, or sort through your own posts. Want a feed of cat pictures? You got it. Interested in seeing which of your posts has done the best? You’ll want the “My Bangers” feed.

To check out the custom feeds:

Tap the three lines icon in the upper left to summon the sidebar.
In the sidebar, select Feeds.
Search for a feed or scroll through them to pick the ones you like.
Click or tap on individual feeds to preview them.
To follow a feed from the Feeds page, click on the individual feed, select the three dots in the upper corner, and then select Save to my feeds. It will now appear at the top of your Feeds list.
To follow a feed from Bluesky’s homescreen, tap Pin to Home at the top. Now, it will appear as a tab at the top of that screen.

Starter Packs

Another easy way to find Bluesky accounts to follow is Starter Packs. These are prepackaged lists of accounts, often chosen around a theme. Bluesky’s team has made some of these, but there are also thousands of user-made lists containing accounts that often post about specific topics or are part of certain groups. (The Verge even has one; you can find it right here.)

Bluesky hasn’t made Starter Packs searchable yet, so the only way you’ll find them is by searching outside of the platform (I like this directory), spotting them when they’re posted by other users, or having them sent to you. Once you find a Starter Pack you like, just click the Follow all button at the top of the screen to, you know, follow all of them, or select the Follow button by individual accounts if you’re feeling choosy.

And if you want to create your own Starter Pack, it isn’t difficult: Bluesky has directions right here.

Custom domains

Screenshot of a Bluesky post that reads, “Oh look, I now have a custom domain that reflects my ceaseless inner dialogue.” The domain is “blather.ing.” — *I finally figured out what to do with that domain name I* *bought last year*.

Like Mastodon, Bluesky is a federated platform, except it uses AT Protocol instead of ActivityPub. As such, you can pick your own domain name suffix for your handle. You’ll need to either own that domain or get it from another service, such as Threads. A word of warning, though: once you’ve done this, your handle / domain name combo is now free for someone else to take. (Bluesky says that “any tags or mentions with your old handle will still point to your account,” though.)

Change my handle box showing all the various domain data. — *Use the “Change my handle” feature to switch to a custom domain.*

To switch to a custom domain:

Select Settings > Change Handle.
Choose I have my own domain.
Enter your domain, and select Copy Domain Value, which copies the string of text at the end of the record.
Navigate to your domain registrar (the company you bought the domain from) and find an option labeled Manage DNS or similar.

A screenshot showing a New Record form on GoDaddy’s DNS management screen. — *Here’s what adding a new record would look like in GoDaddy’s DNS management screen.*

Add a TXT record and enter the record information you gathered from Bluesky. Note: this process differs between domain name providers, so you may need to look up instructions, such as the ones I’ve linked here for popular registrars GoDaddy and Squarespace.
Once you’ve saved the record, wait a few minutes, go back to Bluesky, and select Verify DNS Record. A green banner in the Change Handle box will appear to let you know you succeeded.

Pinned posts

Like X and Threads, you can pin posts to the top of your account. Here’s how:

Navigate to the post you want to pin.
Select the three dots beneath the post.
Select Pin to your profile.

Labelers

A screenshot example showing the NFL Team Labeler, and options to show turn off, show, or hide labels for individual NFL teams. Of the six shown, five have “Show badge” selected, while Chicago Bears has “Hide” selected. — *The Bears still suck.*

Bluesky’s moderation is buttressed by Labelers, which are third-party services that can tag accounts or content, either for informational purposes or for moderation. The tags are wide-ranging and can be used to hide things like posts with GIFs, crypto scammer accounts, brand accounts, or phobia triggers.

It goes far beyond that, though. Some use it as a convenient way to display or view pronouns, find fans of their favorite sports teams, and even play text-based games through Labelers like this TTRPG one. Each one differs in its use and usually offers instructions for using it. Also, Bluesky doesn’t currently have a built-in way to find Labelers, but there are lists and tools for that.

To use a Labeler once you’ve found one you like:

Navigate to its Bluesky page.
Select Subscribe to Labeler.
If it has a list of labels to customize, pick an option for each:

Off: to keep the label off.
Show badge: to see the label when applied to content or accounts.
Hide: to hide content or accounts with that label.

If you decide you want to change those selections later, you can do so by going to Settings > Moderation and selecting the Labeler from the Advanced section.

App Passwords

Bluesky lets you create passwords for other apps to use. This is helpful if you like to use apps — like third-party client Graysky — that take advantage of the Bluesky API but don’t want to give them your permanent password. Here’s how you can do that.

Navigate to Settings > App Passwords (Under Advanced).
Select Add App Password.
Enter a name for the password or use the one Bluesky generates.
If you want to let the app use direct messaging, tick the Allow access to your direct messages box. Note: you can’t change this option later; you can only delete the password and create a new one for that app.
Select Create App Password.