Gathered around at Lucy’s place, and freshly educated on Video content for social media by Florian, Abigail generously introduced us to Bluesky - something all of us knew nothing about. If you also know nothing about Bluesky but hate the social media platforms we all seem to use - read on!

The popular idea of Bluesky is that it is a twitter clone that got overrun with furries and queer sex workers - but that is only partially true.

No Algorithm

The first key thing to know is that Bluesky doesn’t have an algorithm per se - there are a number of pre-set algorithms that you can add to your page, or you can build your own or use one that another user has made. This combined with the fact that the discover feed is optional means that you get to be a lot more intentional about what content you see, it isn’t just fed to you without you choosing it.

Starter Packs

You don’t have to start from scratch though - you can choose a starter pack which is a selection of accounts with a common theme that you follow in one go, and being part of a starter pack is a great way for people to find your account e.g. you create a starter pack of London Drag Acts so you all get followed by anyone who is interested in the London Drag scene.

Because of these features, Abi found it so much faster to build a decent following on BS vs instagram, though treating BS like instagram doesn’t work.

What works on BlueSky

• Engagement is all about reposting, commenting
• Even if you have a smaller BS following, you will likely have way more engagement - BS followers tend to be more actively engaged
• BS doesn’t deprioritise links so sharing
• There are good tools for interacting with your audience, so posts that do that do well
• E.g. a long thread about something you’re passionate about that people will want to react to
  • Perhaps some mild controversy
• Something niche - Abi was shocked at the amount of interviewees she was able to find for a niche research project just by posting a graphic as a call out - especially when the same post on instagram didn’t deliver many at all
• So, try and condense what you do into a title/tag line - basically get a thing that is recognisable and push that as you can e.g. seven foot slut

Why is BlueSky like this?

BS is trying to avoid the network effect - the feedback loop of audience that keeps people stuck on a certain app or in certain online spaces

Part of how they achieve this is because BS runs on the AT protocol, and other people can make things to use the AT protocol too.

(a protocol is like a digital platform/language - e.g. all emails run on the same protocol so they can understand each other)

Other platforms are being made on the AT protocol; by marginalised groups, for marginalised groups, for example:

• North Sky - a social media that prioritises queer and trans expression and protecting queer and trans people online
• Black Sky - (by Rudi Fraser) a similar project designed for Black Americans/POC in general
  • It is funded by donations and grants
  • There are built in mutual aid functions as well

Algorithm Speak

Then Lucy talked about how using the word ‘disability’ reduced her visibility on Instagram, and we were into a deep conversation about Algorithm speak - the euphemisms that people use instead of using flagged words - e.g. S X meaning sex, corn meaning porn, acoustic meaning autistic - and the effect that it has on people. It can be so hard to have to edit yourself to not get banned so getting to use the word that you want to on bluesky is really useful.

Things are bad online guys

This led on to the fact that tiktok is down on anyone who is visibly disabled, queer or trans and Abi laid it all out for us:

We need to be looking at alternatives - especially ones we build/contribute to ourselves.

Changes happen so slowly until platforms are unusable - like boiling a frog

Queer, trans, sex workers are the first to become aware of limitations and so they sound the alarm - we should take their lead and be more wary about the spaces on the internet that we use.

She talked about how behind the online safety act is often the intention to censor queer and trans people rather than to promote online safety at all

• Age verification is always something to be wary of
• The line is ‘We are trying to protect kids from porn’
• The intention is transphobic and queerphobic
• This is because a lot of people conflate ‘adult content’ with queer and trans people just existing
• It makes platforms way more likely to self censor to avoid having to bring in age verification

We should contact our MPs and fill out the online consultation about it.

Lucy reminds us to fill out the Pip Consultation while we’re at it

Internet Safety in General

Abi tells us about using VPNs for safety - she has used them just to keep accessing queer and kinky platforms online without giving biometrics and ID to organisations that are bad just to access these spaces (e.g. palantir)

She stresses “ I don't want to be a doomer or a conspiracy theorist - but we should be aware of this, and not being so reliant on massive tech companies that don’t have our best interests at heart.

Kim brings up The White Pube Podcast again

I had to bring up the episode of The White Pube Podcast where they talked about returning to an RSS feed option for social media - like the blog days -so you make your own website to share your work online, and people use an RSS reader to follow all the websites they like - here is the podcast but here are some points:

• More creative control if it’s your website vs instagram
• There is a high barrier to entry to build an online space like this - though there are simple options
• People can have a lot of fun coding little bits of websites

Other online spaces we talked about are:

• Directories
• Websites
• Mailing lists
  • They are taking off apparently - people are not enjoying social media
  • Better engagement
  • Higher than 50% open rates

Florian and Abi on the tensions around being queer online

Florian makes the point that queer people have always had trouble reaching our audience, we’ve always had to find ways around it, making zines, publishing our own newspapers etc.

When it comes to social media - it’s not ideal - but for now while we are still allowed to use it, they are wonderful tools for finding people, and for people who aren’t sure what they're looking for yet to find us.

Abi agreed, though the internet and social media is not okay right now, we are at risk of losing the ability to express ourselves and connect on the internet as queer people.

And looking over your shoulder has to be paired with holding people in power to account

Maybe we have to be part of that world to have an impact on it; talk of going into politics comes up and falls away - it’s such a masochistic career path.

I say wouldn’t it be great to be able to post on multiple platforms at once, someone needs to make an automation to help you do that.

Abi points out that if protocol based social medias like Blue Sky take off - they are not walled gardens - so once you join you could use your handle across different platforms - transfer your handle between different services.

Florian laments the fact that different platforms like different things; e.g. tiktok loves when you post multiple times a day but instagram doesn’t. You might be so good at posting on one platform, but not great at the style needed on another.

Things to consider

• BS is very north america based, there aren’t loads of british users at the moment
• It’s still very early days - but platforms that are built by and for us have such value
• Social media platforms are like walled gardens - they have so much control - they are not good for us - BS is an alternative to that
• There is much to gain from building your own algorithm
• Events with nudity and x-rated content might have a better chance advertising on BS