Bluesky releases feed with custom algorithm

Here’s one of Bluesky’s potentially greatest features: custom algorithms, or what it calls “custom feeds.” The idea is that you can subscribe to feeds that have algorithms tuned to show you different types of posts than what you see in BlueSky’s main “What’s Hot” feed.

In practice, custom feeds work a lot like Twitter lists. Similar to them, you can pin specific custom feeds, and they’ll appear at the top of your timeline as separate tabs. You can choose which feeds to pin from a new “My Feeds” menu in the sidebar of the app. By default, that tab includes “What’s Hot” (“Top trending content from across the network”), “What’s Hot Classic” (“The original What’s Hot experience”), “BlueSky Team” (“BlueSky Team members’ posts”), and “Popular with friends” (“a mix of popular content from accounts you follow and content you follow yourself”).

There’s also a section for discovering new feeds in My Feeds. There are plenty of options already, including tame feeds like “Cat Pics” and “Music,” but also feeds that cater to BlueSky’s weirder side, like “Hellthread Feed” and “what is alpha, The best part is that you don’t actually have to pin any feeds, which means that, if you want, you can set things up so that you only see a chronological timeline of posts from people whose You are following.

So far, I really like the implementation of these custom feeds. It’s nice to feel like I have some control over what’s served to me algorithmically, especially in a world where Elon Musk’s posts can dominate Twitter and TikTok’s feed keeps me hooked to the app. Very nice And I wouldn’t be surprised if I often limit myself to just the feeds of the people I follow — I already have enough distractions in my life.

“We want a future where you control what you see on social media,” BlueSky CEO Jay Graber wrote in a March blog post about the platform’s vision. Algorithm for choice, “We aim to replace the traditional ‘master algorithm’ controlled by a single company, with an open and diverse ‘marketplace of algorithms’.”

Custom feeds are now available in the latest versions of the mobile apps and on Bluesky’s web client, bsky.app, However, the Twitter option remains invite-only, so you can try it for yourself if you already have an account or if someone sends you an invite code. (I don’t have any parts, sorry!)