Bluesky-curious? [December 2024 update]
We’re realistic about the amount of interest any blog post published on December 18 could hope to attract. Nothing we have to say can compete with visions of sugarplums.
Hope springs eternal, though, that you will find yourself curious about Bluesky at some point over the holidays or in the coming weeks—and that’s when you may find this helpful.
The argument for Bluesky as a better all-around social platform for posting and engaging hasn’t evolved much since we first commented on it last month. But there are a few updates to share, suggesting continued adoption:
- Much of the recent focus has been on the growth of Bluesky accounts—more than 25 million this week or about double the number in October. (Keep up with this counter.) But usage is what will determine its sustainability. As of November, Bluesky was attracting the equivalent of 20% of X’s monthly visits. Further, the average visit lasts more than twice as long as the average visit to X, according to Similarweb data.
- MuckRack, the media database of journalists, podcasts and newsletter writers, is now tracking Bluesky accounts. Related: Inside Edition chief investigative correspondent Lisa Guerrero claimed to be the first national news correspondent to switch her chyron social handle from X to Bluesky.
- Closer to home, an account called JP Morgan Asset Management whose profile links to the disclosure page on jpmorganam.com just may be preparing to be the first asset manager account on the platform. No posts as of this writing.
One more quasi datapoint: market charts shared on Bluesky were cited last week by the Animal Spirits podcast hosts, both of whom have accounts on the network.
Here come the apps!
We also call your attention to the proliferation of apps that add value to your Bluesky experience. Like Twitter did in the early days, the network encourages third-party development of apps for specific usage and analysis. It was the innovation and creativity of third parties brought that drove Twitter adoption. The openness of Bluesky—and the fact that most are free—are part of what’s so appealing to me.
One caveat: Expect some unpredictability, given how new the apps are and the likelihood that just one person may be behind them. They’re quirky. They’ll be called one thing one day, a different name the next. They can be buggy. Some of these will jump out to a strong early start, only to be bettered by something that took longer to develop. Not all will survive. Some individual Bluesky accounts will gain followers primarily because they’ve got the intel on the latest apps.
It’s all part of being involved in something new and unchartered—love it! But we understand that may be what gives you pause when evaluating for your firm’s brand. Even so, at least create your own account to keep an eye on things as the network quickly matures.
Apps for following accounts
- Bluesky is better than most at facilitating finding your peeps and discovering more. It supports the creation of Starter Packs, which enables accounts to create lists of as many as 150 focused accounts to follow.
For example, the Lowe Group created an Investment and Financial Media Starter Pack to spotlight reporters, editors, podcasters and others who cover investing, wealth management, personal finance, ETFs, mutual funds, alternatives and fintech. Check out the link to follow one, many or all. If you know of others, please drop us a note.
Here’s where it gets even better: there’s a separate website, unaffiliated with Bluesky, that’s been created to support the searching of Bluesky starter packs. Bluestarterpack is a treasure trove of starterpacks, and see the analytics provided. You’ll note that Journalism is among the top categories of starterpacks.
At this point, the total of Finance categories (just 11 personal finance starter packs—advisors, where are you?) are trailing. I’m hoping for an early 2025 surge.
- If you or your firm has had an X account and you’re curious about how many accounts you follow there have made the move to Bluesky, try BskyFollowerBridge. This is a browser extension that can link X accounts to Bluesky accounts—and the need to match based on what you call yourself on X or the email account used on the account explains why many (including myself) continue their account names on the new place. And why we haven’t yet deleted our X accounts.
Check this app out sooner rather than later. The bridge may be living on borrowed time as X owner Elon Musk cannot love the migration being enabled.
- Use the Bluesky network analyzer to find people followed by lots of the people you follow (but not you).
For following what’s posted
Your choices include:
- Deck.blue, which offers a configurable multi-column view of accounts, notifications, and media shared. This app is a direct descendant of TweetDeck back in the day and might remind HootSuite users of that app.
- Skyfeed, which is my favorite for the advanced filtered search capability. I used this to create an ETFs feed that I’ve added to my profile. Really appreciate the precision possible. You GA4 users, note that it supports regex.
For tracking your progress
- Blueview for profile stats, engagement tracking, new followers, top interactions, a directory of the leading starter packs, recommended users to follow, etc. Described as a personal project by its creator, Blueview captures some of the spirit of early Twitter. A whimsical feature early in the month offered Santa beards and hats for personalizing profile pictures. Currently, it’s offering a Bluesky wrapped feature to capture your year a la Spotify wrapped.
What’s being shared
First, remember that Bluesky is in a class of its own in that its algorithm—unlike LinkedIn’s and X’s—does not penalize accounts for sharing links that could lead followers off the network.
So, Bluesky users are assured of seeing posts containing links, that’s for starters. But for added intrigue wouldn’t it be interesting to get a view of the links the accounts you follow are sharing the most? A much beloved long gone Twitter app, Nuzzle, provided this information and more back in the day. Paid Twitter offers a similar, though less robust, feature today.
Sill does this in one simple feed, and it’s appreciated. It offers the ability to filter by time (3, 6, 12, 24 hours) and by newest or most popular, you can also subscribe to a daily digest. But it’s easy to guess what’s on this app’s roadmap—let us search and sort and segregate by follower lists, etc. Also, a paid version, as mentioned on the site. In retrospect, I’ve often thought that Twitter apps might have had longer lives if they sought to monetize earlier. I for one am on board for paying for additional value.
And with that, we’ll close the LoweDown blog for 2024. Happy Holidays to all who see this in the final days of the year. We’re taking next week off but will be back with a new post for the new year on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
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