Explainer: a beginner’s guide to using Bluesky in Ireland — how to set it up and who to follow

What is Bluesky?

Bluesky is a very similar service, in look and feel, to Twitter before Elon Musk bought it. In other words, there is breaking news, sport, entertainment and discussions about big events. There is some content moderation but few extremists, porn or bots so far. There are also no ads, for now. There is a stream of people leaving X to join Bluesky.

Why is it suddenly popular?

No-one knows for sure, although it may be related to the election of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s part in making X part of that MAGA ecosystem. It’s currently the most downloaded social media app on our phones, worldwide.

Have any famous Irish people joined?

Lots. These range from comedians such as Dara O’Briain to artists such as Blindboy — exactly the kind of mix you might have seen offering quips and views on Twitter before Elon Musk took it over.

What about news and media organisations?

Most of the largest news and media organisations, from Ireland and abroad, are on the platform and posting regularly. This includes the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Mail, BBC, FT, New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg and many others. Many senior journalists from these outlets are also now active on the platform, engaging in discussions and making points outside their articles.

What about politics?

Some Irish political parties and senior politicians are now using it regularly, including Taoiseach Simon Harris and the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Social Democrat parties. Sinn Fein isn’t very active on it, nor are the Irish Labour Party or Green Party, neither of which yet have a Bluesky account. The office of President Michael D Higgins has recently become active on the service. Some of the most prolific online political journalists now use the service regularly, such as Virgin Media’s Gavan Reilly.

What about sport?

While there aren’t as many sport accounts as news accounts, it’s growing. Companies such as Sky Sports have multiple active feeds on Bluesky, as do other broadcasters. Major events are now being live-posted by users — the Tyson Paul boxing match last weekend created a major flurry of activity on Bluesky, like it did on X.

How do I join?

Download the app and sign up, like any social media network.

How do I find people to follow?

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of ‘starter packs’ available for people new to the app. Tap into any of these and you’ll see thousands of popular accounts from Ireland and elsewhere that you will probably recognise from services such as X or Instagram. For example, in the search box, just type ‘starter packs Ireland’ and you’ll see options there.

If you already have an X account, you can use an ‘extension’ (called ‘Sly Follower Bridge’) for your Chrome or Firefox web browser that guides you into following the same accounts as you already have on X.

Alternatively, you can simply google someone’s name and add .bsky.social to it, to see if they have an account (such as mine at adrianweckler.bsky.social).

Will this replace X?

It’s still a lot smaller than X, with around 20m users compared to at least 200m for X. It’s also a lot smaller than Meta-owned Threads, although it’s set up in a very different, more news-focused way than Instagram’s sister service. But there is a distinct migration from X to Bluesky under way from a portion of X’s user base which still pines for the old era of Twitter. This includes major publishers such as the Guardian, which left X last week, as well as Irish publications such Silicon Republic, which also left X for Bluesky last week.