So you are thinking of leaving X for Bluesky. How does it work?

The apps look and feel similar. Here is how to use Bluesky and what you might miss from X

By Hank Sanders

 

Bluesky, the Twitter-like social media platform that emerged as an alternative for X users who had become frustrated with Elon Musk’s ownership of the platform, is having a second wind.

 

When Musk bought X — then called Twitter — in October 2022, competitors like Mastodon and Hive Social received a rush of new users. Other competitors came on the scene later, including Threads and Bluesky, and were welcomed with surging sign-up requests.

 

Since the 2024 presidential election, Bluesky has added millions of new users, its chief executive said.

 

Whether you’ve left X for a new home or simply want to understand one of the most downloaded free apps, here is what you need to know about Bluesky.

 

What is Bluesky?

 

Bluesky is a desktop and app-base  social network that operates similarly to X. Users can post text, videos and photos, reply to one another and share other users’ posts. The early version of Bluesky required users to be invited to the platform, but now anyone with an email address can create an account.

 

How do I post?

 

Similar to X, Bluesky users can write a post by clicking a large, blue button that says “New Post” with a pen-and-paper icon next to it. The posts are on the shorter side, with a 300-character limit, and they can include video and photos.

 

Bluesky messages are called “posts,” although there is a push — controversial to some — to call Bluesky’s posts “skeets.”

 

Feeds use a mix of algorithm-driven content and personalisation.

 

At the top of the page, users can toggle among feeds featuring posts from the people they follow and a second Discover feed.

 

Discover is an algorithm-driven page that operates like the For You pages on TikTok or X and shows you popular posts from users you may not be following based on your previous activity on the platform.

 

You can really personalize your feeds by using lists, feeds and “Starter Packs,” said Emily Liu, a communications director for Bluesky. Lists are meant to group together accounts based on a user’s interests. To make a list, click on the checklist symbol on the left side. Name your list — for example, “Portland Sports” — and start finding relevant people and organisations (the columnist John Canzano, for example, or the Portland Trailblazers) to add to that list. Feeds let you tailor the kind of posts you see to a topic or keyword. Want to see more about pizza? You can find a litany of pizza-related feeds filled with pizza photos, pizza memes and the occasional review of the film “Licorice Pizza.” Like lists, feeds are found on the left side control panel.

 

“You can think of Feeds as superpowered hashtags or lists,” Liu said.

 

Starter Packs are similar to lists but are targeted for people to share groups with their followers. Users will often have their own Starter Packs tailored to their interests that their fans may enjoy. When their followers join the pack, everyone will see the same posts in that pack. Bluesky will feel familiar to an X user.

 

The Bluesky layout will feel familiar to an X user. After all, Jack Dorsey, the former chief executive of Twitter, helped develop Bluesky.

 

The control panels on the left side of the platforms are nearly identical, both in function and appearance. The scroll mechanics feel similar. Both apps use light blue and white colour schemes.

 

Bluesky users can block, mute and report accounts. But because Bluesky calls itself “an open and public network,” users cannot make their posts private from other Bluesky users without blocking them individually.

 

What Bluesky is missing for some users

 

Freddy Nager, an associate professor at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, said sports news remained a big draw for X users. Many of the accounts that break sports news — Adam Schefter and Shams Charania of ESPN and Ian Rapoport of the N.F.L. Network, for example — are not yet on Bluesky. Bot accounts mirror their X posts on Bluesky.

 

X also recently installed a “views” counter that Bluesky does not have.