Feeding yourself
I can tell you're hungry
Contents
as of the 7th November 2024
Go to Introduction
Feed differences of these social platforms
A brief comparison of feed functions on Bluesky, X and Threads.
Go to The Basics
Get the information on the basic uses of feed functionality. You need to know this!
Using the top bar on your home feed
Literally here for the technophobes.
How to find feeds
Get to the Feeds screen using Route 1 – Tap the # or Route 2 – Side Menu > Feeds and then discover the functionality of The Feeds screen.
Go to Help!
An area for those struggling to keep up with their besties/mates/friends/mile acquaintances on Bluesky.Â
Create a list. Pin it as a feed.
This area provides the idea of creating a list of all your favourite people and using the list as a feed.
Pin these useful feeds
Contains 4 feeds that are useful for keeping up with your weird usuals.
Use the Following feed
It may not be for everyone but it can work provided you Tweak with the feeds settings and Mute users you’re probably not going to interact with.
Go to The Additional
A section covering using Lists as feeds and managing your pinned and saved feeds.
Using lists as feeds
The ability to do this, is quite convenient and very helpful.
Managing your pinned and saved feeds
Find out how to access the Edit My Feeds section on Bluesky using:
Route 1 – Tap the # > Edit
Route 2 – Side Menu > Feeds > Edit
Route 3 – Side Menu > Settings > My Saved Feeds
And then find out what the buttons do on the Edit My Feeds screen.
Go to Outro
Introduction
Hey! You’re back again.
Hi there, if you’re reading this, I can only apologise. I’m no author, writer or blogger. 😅
But that’s not exactly relevant. You’re here to find information. Right?
Before I continue, I’m just going to ask if you could consider buying me a coffee. You can do that on the link below.
Buy Mike Jay a coffee through his Amicite account on Ko-Fi.
Now let’s talk feeds!
As always, there’s a contents menu… It’s somewhere around here… with quick links to specific sections on this article, which will take you straight to that point.
You can even right click on the links and Copy link address and when you share them, it’ll take those clicking on it… directly to that section.
I also added a Google Translate function to the site. If you need to view the page in any other language, you can now do so. I hope it’s helpful.
Let’s continue. Shall we?
Feed differences of these social platforms
Bluesky
You start with around 5 or more feeds by default, this can become lots, they just have to be pinned. You’ll hear people say that there are no algorithms on Bluesky. This is factually incorrect and I explain why that is and how these work below.Â
With Bluesky, feeds are created by users of the platform and can be made to look for keywords, tags, emojis and be individual specific following one or multiple platform users by inputting these users into the feed manually or by using lists to have an updatable list of users that can be added to or removed. These are the algorithms set by the feed creator and you can choose which feeds you want. These feeds can be freely shared to others to pin and view. As with X, you can follow as many feeds as you are willing to allow the top bar of your home feed to hold on your behalf. And they’re also accessible from the Feeds screen if you want to be a bit of a weirdo and take the longer route.
X
On X you start with 2 feeds (Following and For You), this can become lots through Communities which you can then pin. The 2 original feeds are forced to follow an algorithm set by X.
With X you can pin Communities that you and others have been added to or you have created, to show a feed involving those individuals. The number of them can essentially be as many as you want to clutter up the top bar on the home feed.
Threads
Threads has one feed. With an enforced algorithm.
With Threads, you have a feed. Just the one. No additional feed choices. Lightweights. 😅
The Basics
Knowing the difference between fed and feed
Using the top bar on your home feed
If you were used to X and their pinned Communities function, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this is similar.
That top bar slides left and right and each feed is clickable. It really is that simple. Select the feed you want to view at a time you see it as relevant. 🤪
How to find feeds?
Route 1 - Tap the #
You can access the Feed screen by simply tapping on the # in the top right corner of the home feed screen.
Route 2 - Side Menu > Feeds
Alternatively, from the side menu (press the 3 lines in the top left corner) press on Feeds.
The Feeds screen
When you’ve arrived at the Feeds screen, you’ll need to scroll down, through the My Feeds section on this Feeds screen, you’ll see a Discover New Feeds section, this allows you to search for feeds covering topics that are important to you.
Once you find one you like the look of or it might be a match to what you’re looking for, press the + icon to the right of it to instantly Pin it to your Home top bar.
But it’s probably best to see if the Feed you like the look of, is top quality or a quantity flood of low quality content and posters.
If you want to see what’s being posted in a feed, press on the feed and scroll through it to see if it matches your interests.
If it does you can press the Pin to Home button at the top of the page.
Once done, you can access this pinned feed from the top bar of the home screen or by using Route 1 or Route 2 to get to the Feeds screen and scrolling through the My Feeds section to find the feed you want to look at.
You can access those feeds you’ve previously pinned and saved from this Feeds screen.
Just remember, if you no longer want a feed pinned, you can go to the My Feeds section on the Feeds screen, press the feed you want to remove from the top bar and press the Unpin button.
There is another way to remove Pinned feeds from the top bar and this is mentioned in the Pinned Feed Management section below.
Simples.
Keep an eye out for those sharing feeds too, they may be exactly what you’re looking for.
Help!
Can't you see people anymore?
So, you’re finding out that those you speak to often… seemly appear to have been swamped, hidden or flooded by others making them invisible to you.
You’re probably using it wrong. 🫣
With all the feeds provided by the Bluesky team and all those extra user created ones, it’s really not a surprise.
After LOTS of hours of overusing the platform…
Worry not weird person…
I shall give you a diagnostic list of things you can do to try to help with this.
Create a list. Pin it as a feed.
Create a list of all your favourites and Pin it to your Home feed.
This is suggested as its a user curated list of people you want to see and that you can add to. Also, all user curated lists display posts in real-time, exactly like the Following feed, just without its options.
Pin these useful feeds
Maybe you’re using feeds that don’t show the most recent posts and replies at the top.
Or maybe, it’s showing those that are following you… rather than showing those you follow.
These feeds below, should help fix those problems. They are for me.
Just click on any of these, they’ll open Bluesky, then press the blue button, Pin to Home.
You’ll then find the feed on your home feeds top bar.
Use the following feed
If you are using the Following feed in your top bar of the home feed, and are using it as your main feed. That’s fine as it’s in real-time order (when refreshed), meaning you see all the most recent posts from those following you, at the top. ALWAYS.
However, this can cause a flood of users you will never or don’t feel like talking to. I have included a method to deal with the flood of posts and be able to keep those followers further down the article.
Following feed user? Tweak it
If using Following feed mentioned above, I suggest you disable the option to Show Reposts in the Following Feed Preferences. A lot of people are still heavily reposting non-followers. The actions of these individuals limits the ability to see your favourites on this feed. This option will stop the flood of this occurring.
How do I do this? See
Bluesky for EXiters – You’re Setting Me Up? – Following Feed Preferences – Show Reposts
Stop the following feed flood
Stopping the flood on the following feed is a maintenance task, something that requires constant monitoring of those following you.
It’s quite a simple concept:
Mute the users that follow you, that you believe you’ll never interact with.
The Additional
Lists as feeds and Feed Management
Using lists as feeds
So… You’ve been looking at the lists of others or you’ve created a list of all your favourite people on Bluesky. And now you’re wondering what the purpose of the lists are…
Well, one of the possibilities is to go to a list you want to see as a feed and press Pin to Home button (unless the list is created to be used a moderation list, see the Bluesky for EXiters – You’re Setting Me Up? – Moderation Lists). This will place it on the feeds top bar accessible by pressing the house icon. Which you can use as a feed to keep up to date with all your faves.
Referring to the Pinned and Saved Feed Management, you can unpin it and keep it in the My Saved Feeds section, or remove it completely from there. This is the next part of the article.
Managing your pinned and saved feeds
Route 1 - Tap the # > Edit
Press the # symbol (in the top right corner) on the Home Feed screen then pressing Edit in the same place.
Route 2 - Side Menu > Feeds > Edit
You can also access the same settings by opening the sidebar…
Feeds -> Edit (in the top right corner)
Route 3 - Side Menu > Settings > My Saved Feeds
From the sidebar, accessible by tapping three lines (hamburger button) in the top left on the official app or swiping from the left edge of the screen to the right on certain Bluesky client applications. Then…
Settings -> My Saved Feeds
Pinned management buttons
No one wants to see a cluttered, disorganised flustercluck of randomly pinned feeds and have random disgust and regret for following certain ones, so…
Inside here you can rearrange your pinned feeds (those highlighted in the scrolling feed top bar), unpin/remove them and delete feeds from the Saved Feeds further down this settings page.
The Pinned Feeds section:
The up and down arrows will change the order of the feed you press it for.
Those at the top are those at the left side of the home feeds top bar.
The blue pin if pressed will unpin the feed from the top bar and move it to the My Saved Feeds section.
The My Saved Feeds section:
The grey pin when pressed will move the feed to the Pinned Feed section.
The Bin/Trashcan will allow you to delete a saved feed.
Don’t forget! Any changes made in the Edit My Feeds screen will require you to save them. It will show a blue Save button in the top right.
Outro
Is this goodbye?
Yes, it is goodbye and with that. I’ll end this article here.
If you found this useful, feel free to share it with those eXiting or Xodus’ing and give my post on Bluesky with this post, a like.
Keep an eye open. More information, guides, tips and tricks about Bluesky will be posted.
