From 2e20b4f05a6d0ad882c0e4e4374c6b1f49475562 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emily Hunt Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2024 21:04:43 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Update blog --- content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md | 64 +++++++++++--------------- 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 36 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md b/content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md index 4e71b2a..004a752 100644 --- a/content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md +++ b/content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md @@ -9,37 +9,28 @@ thumbnail: 'images/posts/230824-bluesky-signup/thumbnail.webp' image: 'images/posts/230824-bluesky-signup/header.webp' --- -_Reading time: 5 minutes_ +_Reading time: 5 minutes_ -- _Last updated: 6th February 2024_ -Since Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, the platform has gotten **much, much worse**. There's [more hate speech](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/technology/twitter-hate-speech.html), the familiar 'blue check' has been turned into a [paid-for service](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/technology/personaltech/twitter-blue-check-musk.html) to get your content seen, and Twitter (now renamed to X) is even going to remove the ability to [block other users](https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/elon-musk-x-twitter-block-feature-delete-1235699759/). +Since Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, the platform has gotten **much, much worse**. There's [more hate speech](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/technology/twitter-hate-speech.html), the familiar 'blue check' has been turned into a [paid-for service](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/technology/personaltech/twitter-blue-check-musk.html) to get your content seen, and Twitter (now renamed to X) has even toyed with crazy ideas like removing the ability to [block other users](https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/elon-musk-x-twitter-block-feature-delete-1235699759/). Twitter is **no longer fit for purpose** as a town square of academic discussion, and it's clear that an alternative is needed. Enter _Bluesky_. [Bluesky](https://blueskyweb.xyz/) is one of a number of [viable Twitter alternatives](https://beebom.com/twitter-alternatives-2/) that have popped up within the last few months. I won't get into explaining which I think is best in this post, or advocating for one over another -- as it stands, I feel like Bluesky has the most momentum _right now_, and as such I'd like to write up a post explaining how to get started on the app. **Topics in this post:** -1. Getting an invite code -2. Signing up -3. Finding people to follow -4. Feeds, feeds, feeds -5. Settings & accessibility -6. Start interacting! -7. (bonus: set your domain name as your handle) +1. Signing up +2. Finding people to follow +3. Feeds, feeds, feeds +4. Settings & accessibility +5. Start interacting! +6. (bonus: set your domain name as your handle) -## 1. Getting an invite code -At the time of writing, Bluesky is still in **private beta**, meaning that you'll need an **invite code** to sign up. Invite codes are given to every **existing** Bluesky user at a rate of about one every two weeks. Getting an invite code is the hardest step. +## 1. Signing up ✍️ -If you're active on Twitter, then you may already know someone with a spare invite code. I recommend asking there! Otherwise, a few initiatives like [this thread](https://twitter.com/emilydoesastro/status/1693969911440195949) have been started to give out codes. - -There's also [a waiting list](https://bsky.app/) for Bluesky invite codes that you can sign up to -- although I doubt you'll ever get one, as it has **more than 2 million people** on it... - - -## 2. Signing up ✍️ - -Once you have an invite code, Bluesky has both a web app and mobile apps -- you can use either or both! +Bluesky is no longer in private beta, so you can sign up right away! Bluesky has both a web app and mobile apps -- you can use either or both. Go to one of the following and follow the instructions from there to make an account. @@ -48,7 +39,7 @@ Go to one of the following and follow the instructions from there to make an acc * [Get the iOS app](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bluesky-social/id6444370199) -## 3. Finding people to follow 🤔 +## 2. Finding people to follow 🤔 Starting a social media account from scratch isn't something most people do often. I think it's actually **quite annoying**. You'll start out with a very small/non-existent network of people, and it takes some deliberate effort to rebuild a list of followed accounts again on any new app. @@ -76,41 +67,42 @@ This can be a goldmine of hundreds and hundreds of suggestions for people to fol **I highly recommend following at least 200 people on Bluesky** -- but honestly, the more the merrier. Following more people will make your home tab more active, and will make the app a lot more enjoyable. -## 4. Feeds, feeds, feeds 📡 +## 3. Feeds, feeds, feeds 📡 -A discussion about Bluesky wouldn't be complete without talking about its best feature -- **feeds**. On Bluesky, all components of the app are open source and will (eventually) be completely federated. +A discussion about Bluesky wouldn't be complete without talking about its best feature -- feeds. **Anyone can write and host their own algorithm for sorting posts**, meaning that you're not limited on Bluesky to just a "Following" and "For You" feed of posts. -Because of this, a really awesome thing is that **anyone can write and host their own algorithm for sorting posts**, meaning that you're not limited on Bluesky to just a "Following" and "For You" feed of posts. In fact, **there are already over 10,000 feeds to choose from!** +In fact, **there are already over 10,000 feeds to choose from!** ### My feed recommendations -Assuming that you're reading this blog post because you're interested in **astronomy/science**, then you might be interested in the following feeds to get you started (small disclaimer -- I'm the maintainer of the two astronomy feeds): +Assuming that you're reading this blog post because you're interested in **astronomy/science**, then you might be interested in the following feeds to get you started (small disclaimer -- I'm the maintainer of the astronomy feeds): * [**Astronomy**](https://bsky.app/profile/emily.space/feed/astro) -- posts about astronomy by astronomers on Bluesky * [**Astrosky**](https://bsky.app/profile/emily.space/feed/astro-all) -- all posts from everyone signed up to the Astronomy feed, whether about astronomy or not -* [**What's Science**](https://bsky.app/profile/bossett.bsky.social/feed/for-science) -- a very popular feed with posts about any science topic +* [**Science**](https://bsky.app/profile/bossett.bsky.social/feed/for-science) -- a very popular feed with posts about any science topic * [**SciArt**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4vjdrhro4bxoawbyjgixesij/feed/aaadepeaxdboc) -- posts at the intersection of science and art, containing some really cool things The descriptions of the above four feeds also contain instructions if you'd like your posts to get included in them. There are also some popular feeds containing **more general** posts: -* [**Discover**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur/feed/whats-hot) -- Trending content from your personal network -* [**What's Hot Classic**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur/feed/hot-classic) -- some of the most liked posts on the network +* [**@skygze.io's For You**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wqowuobffl66jv3kpsvo7ak4/feed/the-algorithm) -- A friendly For You algorithm that learns what you like and shows you things from in your network +* [**Quiet Posters**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vpkhqolt662uhesyj6nxm7ys/feed/infreq) -- posts from people you follow who don't post often. This one is _fantastic_ for keeping up with people! * [**Cat Pics**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:q6gjnaw2blty4crticxkmujt/feed/cv:cat) -- a feed containing pictures of cats from the whole network (CATS!!) + ### How to subscribe to feeds -After clicking the above links to the feeds, you can press "Add to My Feeds" to add the feed to your list of feeds. You can also press the 📌 icon to pin the feed to your home screen, for easy access. Finally, you can ❤️ the feed to like it to **show your support**! +After clicking the above links to the feeds, you can press "Add to My Feeds" to add the feed to your list of feeds. You can also press the 📌 icon to pin the feed to your home screen, for easy access. Finally, you can ❤️ the feed (under the feed's "About" tab) to like it to **show your support**! -You can also search for more feeds by going to the "My Feeds" tab on the app and pressing "Discover New Feeds". You can search for new feeds and view a list of all feeds sorted by how many likes they have. +You can also search for more feeds by going to the "My Feeds" tab on the app and scrolling down to "Discover New Feeds". You can search for new feeds and view a list of all feeds sorted by how many likes they have. As a final tip, you can press the ⚙️ (cog) icon on the "My Feeds" tab to **rearrange which order feeds appear in** on your home screen, as well as **which feeds are pinned**. -## 5. Settings & accessibility 📐 +## 4. Settings & accessibility 📐 There are a few settings that you also may want to tweak in the app. Navigate to the "Settings" tab on the web, or the "Settings" part of the menu on the top-left of the mobile app. -#### Settings: Accessibility: Require alt text on images +#### Settings: Accessibility: Require alt text before posting Firstly, let's talk about **alt text**. Alt text on images is [really important for improving the accessibility of the web](https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/). Most social media sites support it, but Bluesky has something uncommon: you can _require_ it on images you post. I recommend turning it on: it makes it impossible to forget to add! @@ -118,7 +110,7 @@ Firstly, let's talk about **alt text**. Alt text on images is [really important Now is a great time to turn on **dark mode** if you're also a vampire. 🧛‍♀️🦇 -#### Settings: Advanced: Home feed preferences +#### Settings: Basics: Home Feed Preferences There are some things you may want to tweak about your experience on the app here. The main thing is that you can change how many **likes** a reply to a post needs to have to be **shown in your home feed**. @@ -126,16 +118,16 @@ By default, this is set to 2 -- but you may prefer a lower number (like 0) if yo In addition, you can also show/hide **reposts** and **quote posts** from this window. -#### Settings: Advanced: Content languages +#### Settings: Basics: Languages The final setting worth mentioning to get you started is **languages**. Select which languages you'd like to see in feeds on the site. -## 6. Start interacting 🥳 +## 5. Start interacting 🥳 **Congratulations!** You're done getting set up on Bluesky. You should now be following a good number of people, and you should have a few feeds to look at for extra content. Now comes the fun part! -Go out there, read some great posts, and join in on discussions! You could also make an **introduction post**, talking about who you are and what you'll be posting about. +Go out there, read some great posts, and join in on discussions! You could also make an **introduction post**, talking about who you are and what you'll be posting about. Feel free to tag me and I'll repost it! And if you have any questions, just ask! I think the Bluesky community is nice, we don't bite. You're also always welcome to ask me -- my handle is [@emily.space](https://bsky.app/profile/emily.space). @@ -145,6 +137,6 @@ Enjoy! 🎉 ## Bonus: set your domain name as your handle -Bluesky uses a unique system for verification. You can set your handle to be **your personal website's domain name**! Long-term, this means that big organisations (like NPR) could use a handle like "@npr.org" to show who they are on the platform. Only people with control over the domain can allow the domain to be used for handles. +Bluesky uses a unique system for verification. You can set your handle to be **your personal website's domain name**! Long-term, this means that big organisations (like NPR) can use a handle like "@npr.org" to show who they are on the platform. Only people with control over the domain can allow the domain to be used for handles. But it also means you can get yourself a fun handle! (This is how I have [@emily.space](https://bsky.app/profile/emily.space)). You will need **a domain name** and access to **configure its DNS settings**. There's a great tutorial on how to do this [on the Bluesky website](https://blueskyweb.xyz/blog/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial). -- 2.54.0 From d79575de43a71c04a04f6dcb3c53cd0295538472 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emily Hunt Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2024 10:09:28 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Typo fixes and add additional setup part --- content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md | 38 ++++++++++++++++---------- 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md b/content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md index 004a752..f7a16e7 100644 --- a/content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md +++ b/content/posts/230824-bluesky-signup.md @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ thumbnail: 'images/posts/230824-bluesky-signup/thumbnail.webp' image: 'images/posts/230824-bluesky-signup/header.webp' --- -_Reading time: 5 minutes_ -- _Last updated: 6th February 2024_ +_Reading time: 5 minutes_ -- _Last updated: 7th February 2024_ Since Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, the platform has gotten **much, much worse**. There's [more hate speech](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/technology/twitter-hate-speech.html), the familiar 'blue check' has been turned into a [paid-for service](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/technology/personaltech/twitter-blue-check-musk.html) to get your content seen, and Twitter (now renamed to X) has even toyed with crazy ideas like removing the ability to [block other users](https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/elon-musk-x-twitter-block-feature-delete-1235699759/). @@ -20,11 +20,12 @@ Twitter is **no longer fit for purpose** as a town square of academic discussion **Topics in this post:** 1. Signing up -2. Finding people to follow -3. Feeds, feeds, feeds -4. Settings & accessibility -5. Start interacting! -6. (bonus: set your domain name as your handle) +2. Setting up your profile +3. Finding people to follow +4. Feeds, feeds, feeds +5. Settings & accessibility +6. Start interacting! +7. (bonus: set your domain name as your handle) @@ -39,7 +40,14 @@ Go to one of the following and follow the instructions from there to make an acc * [Get the iOS app](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bluesky-social/id6444370199) -## 2. Finding people to follow 🤔 +## 2. Setting up your profile 🔨 + +Once you have an account, your next step should be to set up your profile. An account with no name, bio, or profile picture is a lot less likely to be trusted or interacted with by people on the platform, so it's good to set these things and personalize your account a bit before going any further. Doing this will go a long way towards making your experience on Bluesky better! + +Of course, if you want an anonymous account, then you don't have to post any personally identifying information or pictures. But I think it's at least good to have _some_ pictures set, set your display name, and write a short description of yourself and your interests in your bio. + + +## 3. Finding people to follow 🤔 Starting a social media account from scratch isn't something most people do often. I think it's actually **quite annoying**. You'll start out with a very small/non-existent network of people, and it takes some deliberate effort to rebuild a list of followed accounts again on any new app. @@ -47,7 +55,7 @@ I'd recommend setting aside **around 20 minutes** just to find people and rebuil ### Building your network -There are some ways to automate this a bit. To find people you know from Twitter, you can try using a tool like the [Sky Follower Bridge](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sky-follower-bridge/behhbpbpmailcnfbjagknjngnfdojpko) extension for Chrome, which looks for links to Bluesky accounts in the Twitter bios of people you follow. This can be a slow process if you follow a lot of people on Twitter, due to Elon-Twitter's rate limiting -- but it's definitely the **most automated** way to find people. +There are some ways to automate this a bit. To find people you know from Twitter, you can try using a tool like [skeet.labnotes.org](https://skeet.labnotes.org/) or the [Sky Follower Bridge](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sky-follower-bridge/behhbpbpmailcnfbjagknjngnfdojpko) extension for Chrome, which look for links to Bluesky accounts in the Twitter bios of people you follow. This can be a slow process if you follow a lot of people on Twitter, due to Elon-Twitter's rate limiting -- but it's definitely the **most automated** way to find people. Next off, Kelly Truelove maintains a [list of astronomy accounts](https://truesciphi.org/ast_blu.html) on Bluesky. It's a really useful list of accounts sorted by follower count, some of whom you'll probably already recognize from Twitter. @@ -57,17 +65,19 @@ You can refresh the page (or swipe down on mobile) to refresh this list and get {{< figure src="/images/posts/230824-bluesky-signup/search_tab.png" height=400px caption="The Search tab on Bluesky, including the very useful 'In Your Network' set of follow suggestions." >}} +To look for more specific suggestions, you also can go to the account of anyone you like and click the little icon of a person with a plus (looks a bit like: 👤+) near the following button. This will give you account suggestions similar to that account. + ### Expanding your network -Finally, one of the most useful things I did was to look at who the people I follow are following. Find an account of someone you follow who's active on the network and who posts content you like. Navigate to their profile and look at who they follow. +Finally, one of the most useful things I did initially was to look at who the people I follow are following. Find an account of someone you follow who's active on the network and who posts content you like. Navigate to their profile and look at who they follow. This can be a goldmine of hundreds and hundreds of suggestions for people to follow, which you can easily find by looking at people's profiles. -**I highly recommend following at least 200 people on Bluesky** -- but honestly, the more the merrier. Following more people will make your home tab more active, and will make the app a lot more enjoyable. +**I highly recommend following at least 200 people on Bluesky** -- but honestly, the more the merrier. Following more people will make your home tab more active, and will make the app a lot more enjoyable. _Bluesky isn't quiet_ -- if you think it is, you probably just aren't following enough people! -## 3. Feeds, feeds, feeds 📡 +## 4. Feeds, feeds, feeds 📡 A discussion about Bluesky wouldn't be complete without talking about its best feature -- feeds. **Anyone can write and host their own algorithm for sorting posts**, meaning that you're not limited on Bluesky to just a "Following" and "For You" feed of posts. @@ -84,7 +94,7 @@ Assuming that you're reading this blog post because you're interested in **astro The descriptions of the above four feeds also contain instructions if you'd like your posts to get included in them. There are also some popular feeds containing **more general** posts: -* [**@skygze.io's For You**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wqowuobffl66jv3kpsvo7ak4/feed/the-algorithm) -- A friendly For You algorithm that learns what you like and shows you things from in your network +* [**@skygaze.io's For You**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wqowuobffl66jv3kpsvo7ak4/feed/the-algorithm) -- A friendly For You algorithm that learns what you like and shows you things from in your network * [**Quiet Posters**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vpkhqolt662uhesyj6nxm7ys/feed/infreq) -- posts from people you follow who don't post often. This one is _fantastic_ for keeping up with people! * [**Cat Pics**](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:q6gjnaw2blty4crticxkmujt/feed/cv:cat) -- a feed containing pictures of cats from the whole network (CATS!!) @@ -98,7 +108,7 @@ You can also search for more feeds by going to the "My Feeds" tab on the app and As a final tip, you can press the ⚙️ (cog) icon on the "My Feeds" tab to **rearrange which order feeds appear in** on your home screen, as well as **which feeds are pinned**. -## 4. Settings & accessibility 📐 +## 5. Settings & accessibility 📐 There are a few settings that you also may want to tweak in the app. Navigate to the "Settings" tab on the web, or the "Settings" part of the menu on the top-left of the mobile app. @@ -123,7 +133,7 @@ In addition, you can also show/hide **reposts** and **quote posts** from this wi The final setting worth mentioning to get you started is **languages**. Select which languages you'd like to see in feeds on the site. -## 5. Start interacting 🥳 +## 6. Start interacting 🥳 **Congratulations!** You're done getting set up on Bluesky. You should now be following a good number of people, and you should have a few feeds to look at for extra content. Now comes the fun part! -- 2.54.0