Bluesky for creators: a smart plan for reach and control

If your whole audience lives on one platform, you don't have an audience. You have a landlord.

Bluesky has been quietly becoming the place a lot of ex-Twitter folks actually use, not just install and forget. And for creators, that's the only metric that matters: attention you can reach without begging an algorithmic slot machine.

What happened

Bluesky is a Twitter-like social app built on the AT Protocol (ATProto). It started as a project connected to Jack Dorsey (ex-Twitter CEO) and later spun out as its own company. The big idea is "decentralized social": your account identity and social graph aren't supposed to be glued to one company forever.

Practically, it feels familiar: short posts (currently 300 characters), replies, reposts, likes, images, and a clean mobile + web experience. New users land in a few default feeds (Following, Discover, Popular With Friends), but the standout is custom feeds - people can choose different "timelines" built around topics or rules.

It's free. It's also (for now) largely ad-free. Bluesky's team has talked publicly about funding the platform via subscriptions and creator-friendly monetization instead of stuffing your feed with sponsored posts. Those systems are still a work-in-progress.

Two creator-relevant features have mattered more than any hype cycle: you can use a custom domain as your handle (which doubles as a strong identity signal), and you can tune moderation/feed settings far more than on the big centralized apps.

Creators love "freedom" until it comes with homework. Bluesky gives you freedom. Bring a notebook.

Why creators should care

Distribution: Bluesky's "choose your feed" culture changes how posts spread. You're not only performing for one opaque For You page. Get into the right custom feeds and you'll feel that old-school "oh, humans are reading this" thing again. Less viral lottery, more network effects.

Identity you can own: The domain-handle trick is sneaky powerful. On most platforms, verification is either pay-to-play or vibes-based. On Bluesky, tying your handle to your domain makes impersonation harder and makes you look like you came prepared. (Which, let's be honest, most creators don't.)

Workflow: Bluesky is simple enough to fit into a cross-post routine without becoming a second job. Text-first platforms are great for testing hooks, naming ideas, and warming up an audience before you ship the "big" content elsewhere (YouTube, podcast, newsletter, product).

Monetization (the catch): Right now, Bluesky isn't a built-in income machine. No mature rev-share. No native "buy" button that everyone uses. So treat it like a distribution layer and a relationship layer - not your checkout.

The risk: Decentralization cuts both ways. Moderation and community standards can vary, and the ecosystem is still young. Also: while ATProto is designed for portability, most people still live on the main Bluesky service today - so don't confuse "architecture" with "reality." Not yet.

What to do next

Claim your identity properly. If you own a domain, use it as your handle. It's the cleanest "verification" move you can make anywhere right now, and it future-proofs your brand name.
Build a feed strategy, not a posting strategy. Find custom feeds where your people already hang out, then post in a way that fits that feed's culture. On Bluesky, being "on brand" matters less than being in context.
Write like a person again. Bluesky rewards conversational posts: sharp opinions, useful mini-lessons, behind-the-scenes, and actually replying. If you just dump links, you'll feel invisible and then blame the platform. Don't.
Use it to move people somewhere you control. Pin a simple "start here" post. Mention your newsletter/YouTube/product naturally. The goal is to turn Bluesky attention into owned subscribers - because monetization on-platform is still developing.

If you want the honest summary: Bluesky isn't "the next X." It's a second chance at the version of social that helped creators rise in the first place - lighter, weirder, more human. Just don't show up empty-handed. Bring a plan. And your domain.