Bluesky Tips: How To Use The Popular X Alternative

Elon Musk, billionaire and owner of X, formerly called Twitter, has seen his relationship with Donald Trump grow ever since he used his personal fortune to help get him elected.

Since then, he’s become a prominent figure of Trump’s upcoming administration, with the president-elect tasking Musk with co-leading his new (and unofficial) “Department of Government Efficiency.” Musk has also reportedly been seen in meetings that Trump is holding at Mar-a-Lago. He is “happy to be first buddy” to the upcoming president, but for those who are against Trump’s fascist, racist views, staying on X — and thereby supporting owner Musk — has become an untenable prospect.

According to estimates from Similarweb, which tracks website traffic, X got the most U.S. visitors it has gotten in a year the day after the election, as well as the most account deactivations since Musk took charge of the social media platform, with more than 115,000 U.S. visitors deactivating their accounts.

Amid the X exodus, there is a social media platform not owned by a billionaire that is seeing record numbers this month — Bluesky. In September, the app had around 8 million users; it’s now reporting to have 16 million, with more than a million of those coming in the week after the election. Bluesky also just became the top free-downloaded app in Apple’s app store in the U.S., surpassing Meta’s Threads and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Bluesky is quickly becoming the new social network that liberal politicians, celebrities and news junkies are jumping ship for, while dormant accounts on the app are finally being used.

On Monday, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted for the first time in a year, with the Democrat declaring, “Good GOD it’s nice to be in a digital space with other real human beings.” And on Wednesday, “Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson started posting again, humorously writing, “Oh wow. People are actually in this bitch!” New celebs are arriving each day; singer Dionne Warwick shared her first post — a short and sweet “I am here” — this week and immediately got over 13,000 likes.

For those unfamiliar, here’s a brief history of Bluesky. It originally launched as an invite-only app in 2023 but is now open to everyone. It was also backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, but he left the company’s board this year.

What makes Bluesky different is its public nature. It’s a decentralized social media platform built on the AT Protocol, an open source toolbox that others can use to create their own social media platforms. According to Bluesky’s website, the AT Protocol “creates a standard format for user identity, follows, and data on social apps, allowing apps to interoperate and users to move across them freely,” which allows Bluesky to be “designed to not be controlled by a single company.”

Although Bluesky has said that it will “always” be free to use, it is exploring a subscription model for features like higher-quality video uploads. The company also has no plans to sell ads, making it distinct from X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads, a similar social media platform that reportedly plans to start having ads next year.

Creating a Bluesky account can take just a few minutes. You can join from your web browser at bsky.app or through a mobile app on Android or iOS. To join, you must share your birth date to confirm you are at least 13 years old, and you will be asked to share an email address and create a password.

Once you are signed in, it should seem familiar to anyone who’s used X. There is the “discover” feed, which is an algorithmically generated feed that “mixes in a global view of what’s trending in the network with posts from accounts you follow and posts from accounts near your social graph,” according to Bluesky’s website. There is also the “following” feed, which will show reverse-chronological posts from people you follow.

And if you are a developer, you can create your own custom feed for people to follow. One fun example is the “quiet posters” feed, which shows posts from your quieter mutuals who post less often.

But beyond understanding the different timelines, to get up to speed on Bluesky, you will want to follow these tips as a newbie:

Two-factor authentication with your email is a quick way to secure your account and make sure it cannot easily be hacked. Don’t ignore this feature.

Go to “settings,” then scroll down to “two-factor authentication.” From there, you can turn on the feature, which will require an email code to log in to your account.

Bluesky is designed to be a public social network but you can make your posts more private by toggling on the feature for “logged-out visibility.” Once on, it will not show your profile and posts to logged-out users, which limits who can see you while using Bluesky. You can find this option by going to “settings,” then “moderation,” and scrolling to the bottom.

Having alternative text show up on your posts is an inclusive way to make what you share legible for all. Go to “settings,” then “accessibility,” and turn on the feature to “require alt text before posting.” When you use it, you will be asked to give a brief description of an image before you share it.

For more tips, read Bluesky user Gregory Rosmaita’s guide on how to make helpful image descriptions for people using screen readers or Braille.

What also makes Bluesky distinct is its array of robust moderation and “anti-toxicity” features that help you control what ends up on your timeline. Is there a word or phrase that you do not want to see on your feed? You can mute words for a set period of time.

And, unlike X, if you’re not liking the attention your post is receiving, you can “detach” (remove) your post from quote replies so they cannot be used as a jumping-off point for harassment.

Additionally, if you want to limit the reach of people you do not want to see, Bluesky has the option to subscribe to “moderation lists,” which are public or shareable directories of people to block in bulk.

To turn on these features, go to “settings,” then “moderation.” From there, you can select to turn on “muted words & tags,” moderation lists, or content filters for adult content.

It can be overwhelming to find your community on a new social network. You can use curated lists that people you trust or admire have created to build your feeds and followers list. There is also a directory list you can use to search for your specific interest.

If you are a longtime X user, you can also use the Sky Follower Bridge extension available on Chrome, Firefox or Github, which will make a list of people you follow on X who have matching Bluesky accounts. From there, you can “select all” of the list or choose which folks you want to follow on Bluesky.

If you loved TweetDeck, there is also a deck.blue layout option that a software engineer and developer created. It can show your home feed, notifications and individual feeds in the multi-column format that made TweetDeck popular.

Ultimately, what made X distinct was its irreverent jokes from users, as well as its ability to follow news events in real time. It’s unknown if Bluesky can gain some of the larger followings of its competitors. For instance, it still has a while to go to catch up to Threads, which said it reached 275 million monthly active users this month.

Still, there is a rising group of Bluesky users who are trying their hardest to help it grow, invigorating the platform with new life. As writer John Paul Brammer humorously said in a recent Bluesky post: “Will be reposting things I don’t even like but see as necessary for developing the culture here. Like introducing wolves to a new environment.”