Social network Bluesky has added a new feature for users to create a curated list of people and custom feeds to follow. This feature, called “Starter Pack,” is intended to help users joining the social network to find interesting content right out of the gate.
Existing users can add accounts and custom feeds to create a starter pack and share the link or the QR code with someone who is not on Bluesky yet.
The link shows a “Join Bluesky” button, which will lead you to a sign up page for the social network. Once you have signed up, your account will automatically follow all the suggested people and feeds. You can choose to sign up on Bluesky without following these suggestions as well.
At the moment, you can add 50 users and three custom feeds to the starter pack.
If you are already on Bluesky, this could be a good tool for you to find new people or feeds to follow as well. However, the company said that starter packs don’t show up in searches at the moment. To discover them, someone has to send you a link or write a post with the starter pack link.
When an existing Bluesky user clicks on the link on the desktop, they can see people, feeds, and even posts posted by those accounts. However, if you tap the link on mobile, it will open in a browser with the sign up page, so you can’t directly follow accounts from there.
A prompt to create starter packs will begin appearing on the desktop and within Bluesky’s mobile app on both iOS and Android (v1.87).
Along with this, the new app update also lets people retroactively restrict a conversation so that only specific people can reply to the thread. Options range from no one, only mentioned users, or followed users. Plus, you can also find new feeds to follow in search and explore.
Last month, Bluesky added direct messages and a way to personalize the main discover feed by providing feedback with “Show more like this” and “Show less like this” buttons.