Here are some of the best things you can do with BlueSky

So, you've finally decided to give Bluesky a chance. Social networks have come a long way since those humble early days Invite-only signup and recently grew up Crossed the 15 million user markAlong the way, it has collected many familiar posting platform features, such as direct message, pinned postsand ability to post Videos up to 60 seconds,

But there's more to it than that, and I'm not just talking about lore. (Yes, bluesky has vidyaAnd this is probably the most classic twitter Talk about it.) It also has a number of features and settings that you won't find on X or Threads, such as the ability to choose your own algorithm or moderation tools. These not only serve as a fast lane to making the platform feel alive, 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.

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 feed — setting all of these to “Off” means your Following feed only shows posts from those people. Will display who you follow. You will get these options Settings > Following Feed Preferences,

The platform also lets you decide how you want to see reply threads Settings > Thread PreferencesHere, you can sort by oldest, newest, most liked answers, or sort them randomly. (Bluesky also calls this “posters roulette.”) There's an option to prioritize people you follow in reply threads, as well as an experimental threaded mode option to show replies as Reddit-like nested threads. Is.

While Bluesky offers two algorithmic feeds to start with – “Discovered” and “Popular with Friends” – things start to get a lot more fun when you get into custom feeds. Bluesky has created some themselves, but most 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 by your posts. Do you want a feed of cat pictures? you got thisInterested in seeing which of your posts performed best? you would like “My Bangers” feed,

To test a custom feed:

• tap three lines icon at the top left to summon the sidebar.
• In the sidebar, select feed,
• Search or scroll through feeds to select the one you like.
• Click or tap individual feeds to preview them.
• To follow a feed from the Feeds page, click an individual feed, select the three dots in the upper corner, and then choose Save to my feedIt will now appear at the top of your feed list.
• To follow a feed from the BlueSky homescreen, tap pin to home At the top. Now, it will appear as a tab at the top of that screen.

Another easy way to find Bluesky accounts is through starter packs. These are pre-packaged lists of accounts, often chosen based on a theme. The team at Bluesky has created some of these, but there are also lists created by thousands of users that contain accounts that frequently post about specific topics or are part of certain groups. ,The Verge There is even one; you can find it right here,

BlueSky hasn't made Starter Packs searchable yet, so the only way to find them is to search outside the platform (I prefer). this directory), recognizing them when they are posted by other users, or sending them to you. Once you find your favorite starter pack, simply click on it follow all button at the top of the screen, you know, follow them all, or select to follow Button by individual accounts if you're feeling selective.

And if you want to create your own starter pack, it's not hard: Bluesky has perfect instructions Here,

Like Mastodon, Bluesky is a federated platform, except that it uses the AT protocol instead of ActivityPub. In this case, you can Choose your own domain name The suffix for your handle. You have to either own that domain or get it from another service like Threads. However, a word of warning: once you do this, your handle/domain name combo is now free for anyone else. ,bluesky says However, “any tags or mentions of your old handle will still point to your account.”

To switch to a custom domain:

• choose Settings > Change Handle,
• choose i have my own domain,
• Enter your domainchoose more copy domain valueWhich copies the string of text to the end of the record.
• Navigate to your domain registrar (the company you purchased the domain from) and find an option labeled Manage DNS or similar.

• Add a TXT record And enter the record information collected from BlueSky. Note: This process varies between domain name providers, so you may need to look at instructions, like the ones I've linked here for popular registrars go Daddy And squarespace,
• Once you save the record, wait a few minutes, go back to BlueSky and select verify dns records, A green banner will appear in the change handle box to let you know that you were successful.

Like X and Threads, you can pin post At the top of your account. This way:

• Navigate to the post you want to pin.
• select three points Below the post.
• choose Pin to your profile,

Bluesky's moderation is bolstered by labelers, which are third-party services that can tag accounts or content for informational purposes or for moderation. Tags are broad and can be used to hide things Post with GIFs, crypto scammer accounts, brand accountsOr Phobia triggers,

However, it goes much further than that. Some people use it as a convenient way display or view pronounsfind their fans Favorite Sports TeamsAnd even play text-based games through labelers like this ttrpgEach varies in its uses and usually provides instructions for its use. Also, Bluesky currently has no built-in way to find labelers, but lists are And tools for that,

Once you find a favorite labeler to use it:

• Visit its BlueSky page.
• choose Subscribe to Labeler,

If it has a list of labels to customize, select an option for each:
Close: To keep the label closed.
show badge: To see labels 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 Selecting Labeler from and advanced Section.

BlueSky lets you create passwords for use with other apps. This is helpful if you like to use apps – like Third-party client Graysky – Those who 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,
• choose add app password,
• Enter a name for the password or use a password generated by BlueSky.
• Tick ​​if you want to let the app use direct messaging Allow access to your direct messages box. Note: You cannot change this option later; You can simply remove the password and create a new password for that app.
• choose create app password,