Bluesky is a relatively new social media platform from the creators of Twitter/X. It’s a familiar interface that looks to provide a haven for those in need of a reprieve from the existing social media offerings. What’s more, Bluesky is an excellent space for educational professionals.
If you’re looking to migrate over, or to just try Bluesky, here’s a few things you should know!
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky is a social media platform used for making short commentary on any number of topics. The platform resembles other popular forms of social media, so if you’re already familiar with how to use services such as Facebook or X, Bluesky will come naturally to you.
Your feed will show accounts that you follow being updated regularly. One way you can curate your feed to what you want to see at any given time is by creating custom feeds. Bluesky caters the algorithm to you specifically, instead of using one overall algorithm for the entire site.
What Makes Bluesky Different?
Bluesky is built with accessibility in mind. The platform was created using what’s known as the AT Protocol. This means that Bluesky is as transparent as can be in its creation and use. Consequently, using it for educational purposes, group gathering, and other instances, will be much more uniform and secure than with other platforms.
Unlike other forms of social media, the AT Protocol allows your information to be accessible and not locked within the platform. If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable with a company having sensitive information about you on their networks (and if you decided to go elsewhere, that your information would stay with that company), then Bluesky should make you feel at ease. If you decided to move to another platform, your information would go with you.
Starting a social media account can be a daunting task, especially if you’ve had existing profiles for years. Bluesky not only provides a familiar network to use for staying in touch with friends and family, garnering news and information, or collaborating with colleagues, it also allows you to keep your personal information safe and secure.
How to Use Bluesky
First, you start by making a profile with your information, much like you would with any other social media platform. After you set up your profile, confirm your email address and you’ll be good to go!
As with other social media, you can post comments, images, links, videos, and other content. You can also search posts by hashtags and users.
According to the Bluesky Help Site, there are currently no plans to be able to make your profile private. As Bluesky is a public platform, posts and certain actions (such as likes or blocks) are made public.
Deleted posts are said to be deleted from Bluesky servers as well, eliminating all traces of the information you no longer want to have on the site.
If need be, you can also request your information from Bluesky.
Once you have an account, you can moderate posts from others, including blocking, muting, and flagging for abuse. For more information on how to create custom feeds and adjust what kind of information your feed receives (and more on moderation) you can visit here.
Many users offer starter packs, which is a curated collection of favorite or related accounts for you to follow. And of course, once you’re officially on Bluesky, we encourage you to follow Tech & Learning on Bluesky!
How Can Educators Use Bluesky?
In addition to following specific users, such as Bluesky Education Peeps, or Tech & Learning as mentioned above, users can search education-related topics by hastag (#), such as #edtech, #STEM, or #AI. Users can also engage in public discussions about education, teaching, edtech, and more, and find all sorts of teaching advice, best practices, and tips.
Similar to Twitter/X, Bluesky also showcases "Trending" topics on the platform, so it can be used to help students explore current events and happenings. So far, Bluesky has been a more transparent and tightly monitored platform, so many of the unsavory bot-driven content is not present.
