Bluesky Tips for ARMY

      With all of the Meta drama Zuckerburg has stirred up this past week or so by licking the boots of Trump and Musk, I thought it would be of help to some to hear my thoughts on Bluesky. I am going to stay on Threads and keep my Instagram for now, but if things get bad like they are on Twitter, I will leave. For those who don't know, Zuck basically came out with a statement saying that certain hate speech will be allowed in the name of free speech. He wants the Meta platforms to have more "masculine energy" whatever that means, they have changed DEI initiatives (they will be hiring less women, veterans, disabled, and non-white people) and they have changed their stance at Meta on political content and will be pushing more of it. Things are going to look a lot worse on Threads, particularly for US users because other countries have stricter protections and regulations for social media apps to protect users. I'm also concerned about what is going to happen when Threads gets ads because that was set to begin this month. I haven't heard anything else about it and with the current climate of the US politically and all of the celebrities and public figures caving to the dark side it could be bad. I know Twitter had right-wing organizations pushing fascist ads from right-wing churches and organizations and they made it so you couldn't block or report ads anymore unless you paid for Twitter Blue and I refused. I think that was the last thing that actually pushed me to delete my account.

     Before I deleted Twitter, I had already been on Threads for almost a year. I'm glad I had already set up an account and had made connections with ARMY on Threads because I had somewhere to go that made it a lot easier to dump Twitter. If you are unsure where to go from Threads if things go bad there I recommend setting up a Bluesky account as a backup. Here's some things to know about Bluesky. I'm not an expert but this is what I have learned since I have been using the app for the past few months.

     Bluesky looks a lot like Twitter because the founder is Jack Dorsey who started Twitter and was CEO before Elon Musk took over and ran it into the ground. The current CEO is Jay Graber. She has already said that she doesn't want to crowd the app with ads and that customization is what they want emphasize on Bluesky. I noticed how familiar the app looked when I joined and I like the butterfly icon more than the ugly X icon. 

     The homepage of Bluesky is where you will find your bio and tabs. Fill out your bio with as much information as you want other ARMY to know about you. I recommend putting no solos and no shippers because you will be blocked from groups where they frequent meaning you won't see as much of their drama if they block you first. It's a good thing. Pedos on the app also have groups where they block kpop fans who don't like shippers because a lot of the shipper fanfics cater to their specific type of kinks. Disgusting I know and I found this out early due to a so-called ARMY who followed me on Bluesky and blocked me right after using that blocklist so it's a good preventative thing to add this to your profile- no solos no shippers and if you don't like fanfic also put that. You may still see it but some will weed you out and you don't have to block them first. It helps keep your feeds cleaner.

    Clicking on your name or swiping right on your name opens up a side menu that has tabs for search, home, chat, notifications, feeds, lists, profile, and settings. Terms of service, feedback, and help are also on the bottom of this tab. Follower and following count are here as well. 

• Search-- the search tab is where you will find trending topics. You can make trending go away and only have the search tab show up here or keep the trending topics. As of right now it is still in Beta so it disappears from time to time (the trending topics). 
• Home--on the homepage you find your feeds.What I like most about Bluesky feeds is that you can customize them. Discover has everything like a "for you" page. If you don't want to see that then you just unpin it under the feeds tab in the drop down menu. To add feeds you just search them under the search topic and pin them under feeds. I searched BTS and added a few. Not all of them will necessarily be for you but you figure out as you go which ones you like most. I recommend BTS ARMY 101 because that tends to have informative posts under it and BTS Bangtan OT7 Feed as that is a little bit of everything. You automatically a feed that is "following" which is posts from everyone you are following and "popular with friends" or posts your followers or moots liked or responded to. You can pin and unpin and move these around.
• Chat--is the 3rd category on the side menu. Chat is built into Bluesky. You can turn it off so no one can message you. I keep mine open for those I follow only like I have on my IG. You can turn chat on or off using the settings that you can access using settings button on the top right of the chat page where it says "messages." You can start a new chat using the plus sign on the bottom right. Chat is beneficial to ARMY because if there is someone we need to block or a topic that we don't want to amplify we can chat privately about it and not discuss it out in the open where everyone will see it. If there are rumors that someone wants to know what others are talking about or if you see a suspect account and want to know if they should be added to a block list you can DM each other and ask about it instead of asking in the open. Too many rumors get spread on Threads because people post something then others go into the comments asking what's going on and end up spreading negativity by discussing rumors in the open in the feed though they don't mean to. With Threads DM being connected to IG you can't always message to ask or if someone messages you to ask it may not go through depending on their settings. At least on Bluesky it may be easier to connect inside of the one app.
• Notifications- you can access your notifications using this tab. It shows you all notifications and those where you are mentioned or tagged or replies directly to you. 
• Feeds--This is your chance to customize what you want and don't want to see here on Bluesky. With feeds you add what you want to see by searching topics and going to the tab that says feeds to see if there is a feed for it. On the feeds tab is where you find the feeds you subscribe to. You pin these and unpin the ones you don't want to see in your top tabs. Under "discover new feeds" there are suggested feeds. You add a feed to your tabs or skyline (what your feed is called on Bluesky) by clicking the plus sign next to it and you delete it from the skyline by clicking the push pin next to it on your feeds tab under "My Feeds" to unpin it. 
•  Profile-- takes you to your profile. Here you will be able to see your profile and edit it. Clicking the 3 dots next to edit profile brings up a pop up to share your profile or add it to lists. Under edit profile you can update your photos and bio. The tabs across the page show your posts and reshares, replies, media or photos and video you've shared, feeds, starter packs (lists of recommended you should add), and lists (usually blocklists). 
• Settings is where you customize everything else. Under account, you will find your email address, password, handle (screenname), and delete/deactivate options. Privacy and security is where you set up 2 factor authentication or 2FA so you are alerted anytime your account gets signed into and your passwords are there. You can also turn off visibility so accounts that aren't logged into Bluesky can't see your account. Moderation is where you can mute words and phrases. I highly recommend using this to block out any mention of other groups, fandoms, political things you don't want to see or anything else. Unlike Threads the muted words also apply to trending topics. Blocked and muted accounts also are listed under moderation. Moderation lists shows blocklists you use. There are also filters to get rid of adult sexually explicit content or allow it whichever you prefer. Content and media lets you control how you want to mange feeds and browser links.You can turn trending topics on or off here. Appearance lets you change modes to light and dark and change font size and font. Accessibility controls include haptic feedback and alt text you can turn off and on. Using alt text descriptions of photos is encouraged on Bluesky to help vision impaired or blind users. Languages, help, and about are self-explanatory and you log out on the tab at the bottom of the menu. 

         Some of you may remember blockchains on Twitter. This is how blocklists work on Threads. If you want to use a blocklist you just click on the list and go to the top right where you will see a button to subscribe and you will see block or unblock. Blocking will block everyone on that list at once. If you want to check them out before you block you can do so and block manually as you go down the list. I have done both depending on the list. I have seen the same conversations on Bluesky as on Threads when we started the Threads btsarmyblocklist hashtag, that people are concerned about being added to the list by accident and all I can say about that is that it is a chance you take. If people find that they added you by accident they can always unblock you. It's not that big of a deal really. I know that some people making blocklists for ARMY will ask that you email them accounts to add and they check out the accounts before they add them to make sure no one is being added just because someone has a grudge or to bully them. That being said, do your own research into each account you block if you want or make sure you trust who you get your blocklists from. 

     Starter packs let you add entire recommendations lists at the click of a button. I don't use these as much as blocklists but they can help fill your feed when you first join Bluesky. I recommend following someone from Threads who's on Bluesky (if that's where you are first) and then checking who they follow to see if you know anyone or if they seem like someone you want to follow. I did this and most of my Bluesky following/followers are people I know from Threads and their moots. You will also find accounts to follow from feeds you follow. 

     No site is perfect. We don't expect them to be but what I have noticed about Bluesky is the moderation is better. More options to mass block or mute mean you don't see as much offensive stuff. When you report bad behavior it seems to be deleted within 48 hours (from my personal experience at least). MAGA fascist public figures usually get banned on their first day on the app. There's still porn bots but I block them and there's still scammers. I report and block them too. The annoying thing is if someone follows you you can't remove them as a follower but you can block them. They can't see your posts and you can't see them but your followers count will still count them. Hopefully this is fixed soon.

      Bluesky doesn't have ads and according to Jay they won't get ads. She plans to add premium subscriptions eventually so they can make money but IG and Twitter both have this already as well as ads and it's possible to use both without a subscription. I suspect Bluesky will be the same only the free tiers wouldn't have ads on Bluesky. These apps are business after all and they're going to make their money either way. Right now there's no ads and no monetization so less attention seeking bait posts as well. 

      Overall I like Bluesky. It's nice to have a Twitter like site without the drama. It's a good backup alternative to Threads. If things get bad on Threads I'll leave but so far it seems ok to stay. I'll wait to see what happens when ads start on Threads. Bluesky is a good place to go to when Threads is a mess too.