New to Bluesky? Here Are Five Useful Tips and Tricks
The Bluesky platform is experiencing a golden age, recently witnessing a sudden surge in users, now exceeding 15 million. Often described as an alternative to X, it is steadily carving its place in the social media landscape.
While still relatively new, Bluesky continues to attract former X users. Here are some hidden features and tips to help you make the most of this emerging platform.
Mute Words
One of Bluesky’s features is the ability to mute specific words from your news feed. To do this, go to Settings, select Moderation, then click on Muted Words and Tags. Add the word or tag you want to mute and choose the duration.
Muting a word will only hide the specified word from your feed, not the user who posted it. If a post contains a muted word, the post itself will still appear, but its content will be hidden. Instead, you’ll see the message “Post hidden by muted word” with an option to reveal the content by clicking Show on the right-hand side.
Create Full Threads
On Bluesky, the character limit for a single post is 300. However, you can share longer messages by creating a thread by replying to your own post.
When drafting a post, tap the + button at the bottom of the creation box. This allows you to add another post to the thread. Once your thread is complete, click Post All in the top-right corner to share the entire thread.
Reply Controls
Bluesky allows you to control who can reply to your posts, offering more control over your social interactions.
When posting, select the Reply Controls option and choose from Everyone, Followers Only, or No One.
Self-Labeling Posts
When posting on Bluesky, you can add self-labels to your posts, particularly for those with sensitive content.
Users can tag their posts with different warning categories. This feature aims to promote responsible content sharing.
During post creation, select the Labeling option to appropriately classify your content. This lets followers see a warning or hide posts related to specific categories, such as explicit images, spam, or violence.
Disable Post Quoting
Quoting posts is a common practice on social media. While often useful, especially for journalists or individuals discussing specific issues, it can sometimes lead to online harassment or bullying as a post gains traction.
To combat this, Bluesky offers a feature that allows you to disable quoting of your posts. By turning off the Enable Post Quoting option, no one on the platform will be able to quote your posts. This makes it harder for trolls or malicious users to engage in negative behavior.
