Ready to join Bluesky? Here’s how to get started
Bluesky finally has his big moment. After the US elections, the alternative social media network exploded in popularity and has since gained around 1 million new users per day. Thursday November 14th.
Bluesky functions much like the other two major You can block or mute accounts en masse. The service launched in the fall of 2021, but interest has spiked this month as those looking for an alternative to Elon Musk-owned X look for a new place to go.
We’ll show you everything you need to get started with Bluesky, including how to post, find people to follow, and adjust your moderation settings. To learn more, read how to delete your X account and find all your Twitter favorites on Bluesky.
How do I sign up for Bluesky?
Anyone over the age of 13 can now join Bluesky (as long as it’s legal in your country). Bluesky launched in February 2023 as an invite-only beta service and then eliminated invite codes in February 2024.
Registering with Bluesky only takes a few minutes.
To register, go to the website bsky.app from a browser or install the app on your phone or tablet from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
To create an account, click the “Sign Up” button on the website or the “Create Account” button in the app. First you need to select your “hosting provider” (Bluesky Social is currently the only option) and provide your email address, password and date of birth.
Next, you’ll need to choose your “handle” or Bluesky account name, which must consist of at least three characters and use only letters, numbers, and hyphens. If you have your own website, you can use your domain as your usernamejust like actor Ben Stiller, NPR or the comedy website The onion. (Unfortunately, Bluesky won’t tell you that the handle you chose is already taken until you click the “Next” button.)
Once you’ve set up your account name, you’ll need to complete a captcha exercise to prove you’re human, and then you’ll be given the option to upload a profile photo or create a primitive avatar from one of 20 emojis plus a of the six colors as background.
The next screen allows you to select topics of interest from a range of 22 topics, including art, films, sports or technology, which will help inform your ‘Discover’ feed. (Read more about Bluesky feeds below.)
When you sign up for Bluesky, you can identify interests that impact your Discover feed.
The entire registration process takes just a few minutes. Afterwards, you’re completely free to explore the blue skies in any way you like. But how do you start? Let’s find some accounts to follow.
How do I find good accounts to follow on Bluesky?
When you start using Bluesky, your main ‘Following’ feed will only consist of the official Bluesky accountand your ‘Discover’ feed (similar to the ‘For You’ feed on X) will consist of posts related to the interests you selected during the setup process.
This is what your Bluesky Following feed will look like at first.
There are numerous methods to find good accounts to follow on Bluesky. You can scroll through your Discover feed to see if any of the accounts are posting content you like, and then follow them directly. Scan the top 500 most popular Bluesky accounts to see if anything fits your bill. Search directly for specific people such as friends or celebrities on the service.
Once you’ve found a few accounts you want to follow, see if any of them offer it Bluesky starter packs. These starter packs are a unique feature of Bluesky and may include recommended accounts and custom feeds for you to follow. You can follow these accounts one by one, or if you like the whole group, click the ‘Follow All’ button to add them all to your ‘Following’ feed.
If a favorite account of yours doesn’t offer a starter package, you can also just take a look at the accounts they follow and follow the accounts you like from that list.
If you want to recreate your X (Twitter) followers list, third-party apps can help you find it for you.
What are Bluesky custom feeds?
Custom feeds are one of Bluesky’s coolest features, and there are over 50,000 of them live on the service right now. Consider custom feeds like social media algorithms that you choose or design: instead of X’s black-box algorithm, you know exactly why you see the posts you see.
Bluesky lets you choose from thousands of custom algorithmic feeds.
You can subscribe to the Popular with friends feed, where you can see favorite content from the accounts you follow. Other feeds are functionally simpler — My bangers shows your most popular posts sorted by number of likes. You can also follow affinity group feeds such as Blacksky, BookSky or Women in STEM.
If you’re a software developer (or willing to learn a little programming), you can create your own custom feeds that you can share with anyone on Bluesky.
How does moderation work on Bluesky?
On Bluesky you can block and mute accounts just like on X, but the full moderation features are more robust than that. The most obvious difference between the two sites is the blocking feature, which is often referred to as the “nuclear block” on Bluesky.
On On Bluesky, blocking an account not only prevents it from viewing your profile or messages, but also deletes any interactions the account has had with you and automatically removes you from all lists. You cannot be found at all for the blocked account.
The mute functions on Bluesky also add a little more. You can mute accounts and specific words, just like on X, but you can also mute entire hashtags.
Bluesky users can report any post or account for violating the site’s terms of service community guidelines. Bluesky claims that each report will be reviewed by the site Trust and Safety Team.
Bluesky includes a robust system for reporting spam and offensive or misleading messages.
A unique feature of Bluesky is curated moderation lists that can be shared with other accounts. Bluesky users can view such lists to decide which accounts to block one by one, or they can mute or block entire lists of accounts with one click.
Bluesky’s moderation settings are set to exclude adult content by default. This can be changed by moving the setting from Disabled to Enabled. Additionally, you can also decide whether you want Bluesky to show, warn, or hide specific types of media: explicit sexual content, sexually suggestive content, disturbing graphic content, and non-sexual nudity.
You can mute and block specific terms or accounts on Bluesky, as well as decide whether and how you see adult content.
Start posting on Bluesky yourself
Once you’ve taken the time to get used to Bluesky, it’s time to start posting. Whether it’s photos of your cats, deep thoughts on your hobbies, or astute cultural commentary, I’m sure you’ll have something great to share.
To start a new post on Bluesky in a web browser, click the blue ‘New Post’ button in the permanent navigation on the left. In the mobile apps, tap the blue circle with a pencil on paper icon in the bottom right corner of your home, notifications, or profile page.
Once the new message window appears, you’ll need to determine your interaction settings. By default, Bluesky messages are set to “Anyone can communicate,” but you can limit replies to followed users or mentioned users, or not allow anyone to reply at all. You can also decide whether or not you want other accounts to “quote” you or repost your content with added commentary. You can also delete quoted posts retroactively.
Bluesky gives you 300 characters per message.
Your options for sprucing up your Bluesky messages are a bit limited right now. There is a 300 character limit for each message. You can add up to four photos to each post, or one video of up to 50MB (if you’ve verified your email address). Once you add a photo or video to a Bluesky spot, you have the option to add a label for adult or sensitive material.
Bluesky supports animated GIFs, but only through an integrated instance of the Giphy service. If you want to post your own homemade GIFs, do so bad luck.
Once you’ve put together your gem and are ready to share it with the rest of the Bluesky community (or whoever your privacy settings allow), simply click the blue ‘Post’ button in the top right corner of the web or mobile app, and voila! — you’re publishing on the hottest new social network!
If you decide to join Bluesky or if you’re already there, be sure to stop by and say hello. I’m just getting started (Mastodon is my main social media presence), but I’m on Bluesky at @peter-butler.bsky.socialand I look forward to hearing from you.
