Brands and users continue to flee Twitter/X. For the first time since Elon Musk took over in October 2022, I’m seeing a steady stream of people in my network flock to a new platform – Bluesky (pronounced “blue sky”), which some people are calling “New Twitter.”
Twitter originally developed Bluesky in 2019 as a project under then-CEO Jack Dorsey. It is a decentralized, open-source, very “basic” version of Twitter. At the time, Dorsey developed it to be used on all of Twitter. That plan got put on ice when Musk took over. Bluesky, also known as Bluesky Social, is now an independently registered public benefit company. As of November 2023, the platform is still in beta. I’m optimistic it could be the new Twitter alternative we’ve been waiting for.
How to set up a Bluesky account:
1. Create an account. For the beta version, you still need an invite code from a current user or can join the waitlist. Users receive one invite code per week. If you want a Bluesky invite, let me know (first-come, first-served for those who use social media for thoughtful discussions and to put good into the world, whether that’s posting funny memes or fighting for social justice).
- Choose your handle – your public username – wisely. Use the same handle you use on other social media sites or a short version of your name. As an early adopter, you can get a great handle! No more @_corey2007barberberlin, for example 😉
- Use the same “look” for all of your (professional) social media profiles. I use the same pictures, name and a similar description on my LinkedIn, Twitter/X and Bluesky accounts. This helps “build your brand” in marketing lingo.
2. Find people to follow. In 5 minutes, I used the excellent Google Chrome Sky Follower Bridge plug-in to migrate my followers from Twitter to Bluesky. You can also use it to find Bluesky users you follow on Twitter, as well as for any public Twitter list. It will take longer the more people you look through.
- Only about 5% of my followers/people I follow on Twitter are currently on Bluesky. Repeat the Sky Follower Bridge process every few weeks to find newcomers.
3. Create your first Bluesky post! Have fun with a picture, some emojis and everyday language, like you’d use with a friendly colleague. You can tag other Bluesky users as you do on Twitter (by typing “@coreybarber”). Direct messages, lists, saving draft tweets and other advanced features don’t exist yet. Hashtags don’t work to search with —their original purpose on Twitter, so no need to use them either.
4. Connect Bluesky to your social media workflows and management tools. Buffer already has a workaround, which was easy to set up but hasn’t worked right for me yet. Follow these steps to schedule posts to Bluesky and cross-post from other platforms using Buffer. You’ll need an iPhone (sorry Android users; they’re working on it!) My first attempts to post this way didn’t work. I’ll update this when Buffer fixes the bugs.
5. Share your new Bluesky account with your followers on other social media platforms, and tell people in real life. I posted about my new account on Twitter and LinkedIn (and pinned those posts to the top of my profile), and added my new Bluesky handle to my Twitter bio since I don’t plan on staying very active there.
- Don’t just post about Bluesky – tell your friends and colleagues! The challenge with any “New Twitter” is getting people to join and use it. It’ll be as strong and helpful as its users make it (and of course, how Bluesky Social operates it).
People created the internet and social media. That means people have the power to make it what we want it to be.
The architects of the internet – seven men and one woman – designed it in the 1970s to help win the Cold War. Don Nielson who led a Stanford Research Institute project that helped birth the internet told The Guardian, “Quite honestly, if anyone would have said they could have imagined the internet of today in those days, they’re lying.”
By binding different networks together so seamlessly, they made the internet feel like a single space. Strictly speaking, this is an illusion. The internet is composed of many, many networks: when I go to Google’s website, my data must traverse 11 different routers before it arrives. But the internet is a master weaver: it conceals its stitches extremely well. We’re left with the sensation of a boundless, borderless digital universe – cyberspace, as we used to call it.
Ben Tarnoff, “How the Internet was Invented,” The Guardian
Let’s work together to reclaim cyberspace. We can make Bluesky and other social media platforms tools for positive social change and respectful discussion.
Have questions about managing your social media accounts, or setting up new ones? Want to actively promote your or your organization’s work on social media but don’t have the time to do it yourself? Not sure what to post about or if it’s worth the effort? Get in touch – we’re here to help.
Barber Communications 