From X (ex-Twitter) to Bluesky, all the tools and tips you need to know for a successful migration

The decline of Twitter since its takeover and its name change to X by Elon Musk has accelerated again in recent days. It follows in particular the re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, driving ever more users and major accounts (West Francefor example) to escape the social network to see if the grass is greener elsewhere. Competing services like Mastodon and Threads (Meta) take advantage of this, but it's nothing compared to Bluesky.

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The decentralized microblogging service, originally designed at the instigation of Jack Dorsay when he worked at Twitter, is today independent and booming. In recent days, almost a million people have joined the site daily, which has just crossed the 20 million account mark at the time of writing (end of November 2024). The site celebrated its 10 million mark in… September.

Whether you've already joined Bluesky or are thinking about doing so, here's a guide to getting the basics of this service that's similar, but not entirely identical, to completely starting from scratch, there are a few tips to help you make the transition.

And before attacking, follow The Digitals sur Bluesky !

Registering with Bluesky

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Initially accessible only by invitation, Bluesky is now offered to everyone free of charge. To register, download the iOS or Android app, or go to the bsky.app website. Beyond providing standard information (email, password, date of birth or even nickname), you are asked to provide information about a host.

Like Mastodon, Bluesky is a decentralized service, which means that your account and messages may be hosted on a specific server (or instance). By default, the Bluesky Social server is used, but it is possible to enter your own server if necessary. For most users, the default choice will do the trick.

Note that there is also a third-party app for Android and iOS, if the official one doesn't suit you, called Graysky. In addition, if you are already on the other decentralized networks such as Threads or Mastodon and want to stay there while testing Bluesky, the openvibe tool allows you to display all the content in one place.

Use of Bluesky and specifics

If Bluesky at first glance looks a lot like

The main one is that Bluesky allows you to adjust the stream(s) displayed yourself. No automatic algorithm with suggestions and advertisements. Here, it's up to you to choose to create or subscribe to thematic and chronological news feeds. Want to see a thread made up only of posts from scientific accounts? To only see posts from people who follow you back or what seems popular with your followings ? Have a Bluesky made up entirely of cat images? It is possible and each feed, whose display behavior can be personalized, can be pinned to the home page.

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Bluesky also offers several options for setting your own content moderation (sensitive images, keywords, etc.), including the ability to subscribe to dynamic lists to automatically block people there. Conversely, starter packsthemes created by users, allow you to quickly find accounts to follow. Classic suggested accounts are still included, as is an account list system.

Finally, let us note that Bluesky aims to be an inclusive place. To do this, a good practice is not to forget to add “alt” text to your images for visually impaired people — an option to not forget this is also offered.

If you come from X and have built a strong community over the years, leaving everything behind to start from scratch on Bluesky can definitely be daunting. Although it will necessarily take time to find followers (the people who follow you), find their followings (the accounts you follow) is, however, simpler. The condition is that they have an account on Bluesky, obviously, and ideally the same nickname as on X. To easily and quickly find your common contacts between X and Bluesky, thank you to the developer of the Chrome extension Sky Follower Bridge.

To get started, download Sky Follower Bridge from the Chrome Web Store. To make it easier to follow, pin the extension to the browser toolbar.

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Next, you will need an application password for Sky Follower Bridge. This is a unique password created solely for one service, thus ensuring that your Bluesky password is not revealed to a third party.

1. Log in to your Bluesky account
2. Click on Settings in the side panel
3. Direction Privacy and security
4. Select App passwords
5. Click on Add an app password
6. Give it a name to remember what the password is for (here Sky Follower Bridge)
7. No need in this case to give access to your private messages, leave it unchecked
8. Click on Following
9. Copy the password provided

Finally, direction X to start the search…

1. Log in to your X account
2. Go to your Profile
3. Click on Subscriptions to open all accounts you follow
4. From this page, click on the Sky Follower Bridge extension in the Chrome toolbar, which you pinned previously
5. Log in with your Bluesky username and the app password you just created
6. Click on Search for Bluesky users

Once the scan is complete, the extension offers you a list of people whose nicknames or names displayed on Bluesky match those of the people you follow on X. Be careful, before following everyone blindly, false positives may occur. in the list.

An essential alternative to TweetDeck for productivity: deck.blue

One of the obstacles to using Bluesky, particularly by people who need to monitor it, is its absence of an advanced interface like TweetDeck on X, or directly in the Mastodon options. Fortunately, as often, salvation came from a developer who designed deck.blue.

Rather than a single column and several buttons to switch from one stream to another, deck.blue offers a system with several customizable columns to display much more content simultaneously. The tool is in active development and is still missing some rare features. The arrival of DM support is notably in the pipeline and the developer is very attentive to user suggestions.

To use it, nothing could be simpler. Go to the deck.blue site, enter your Bluesky account and an application password created for the occasion (see the method in the previous part), and that's it! All that remains is to set the columns you want to display, their specificities (sound, media behavior, size, refresh rate, etc.) and some general parameters to enjoy Bluesky in the best conditions.

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