January 23, 2025 
Share This PostSocial media platforms have always been rented space for their users, but recent events have seen rapid shifts in the landscape. Charities are being forced to re-evaluate their social media strategies as Meta and X (formerly Twitter) become bogged down in the removal of fact checking, decreased user safety, and increased hate speech and extremist views. Some charities have already decided this environment doesn’t align with their values and made the leap to pastures new.
One of the fastest growing alternatives that charities are turning to is Bluesky, a town square style microblogging platform. Reminiscent of old-school Twitter, it was originally developed as an internal project at Twitter, but is now a stand-alone company.
In contrast to the larger platforms, Bluesky is decentralised, meaning users have the option to host their data on servers other than those owned by the company. Bluesky has also committed to strong stackable moderation, user privacy and data control. Its open source nature has also allowed for some very innovative features with exciting potential for charity campaigning.
Bluesky has pledged not to rely on paid advertising for revenue, a refreshing change which leaves room for charities with smaller budgets, and creates potential for organic content and engagement to flourish.
With organisations and individuals flocking to the platform at a rate of 2 per second at the time of writing, we’ve put together this guide to help you take advantage of the engagement opportunities at Bluesky. Even if you are not yet ready to start posting, we strongly recommend that you secure your handle now.
Setting up your charity profile
Sign up via your browser at bsky.app, or download from the App Store and Play Store. Enter your email address, date of birth and password, and then choose your account name / handle and upload a photo.
To verify your account, set your charity domain name as your account handle. Go to account settings, select ‘change handle’ and ‘I have my own domain’. Bluesky instructions will walk you through the rest of the process.
Read more about setting up a custom domain on Buffer’s guide here >
Users familiar with Twitter will find Bluesky very intuitive. Posts are limited to 300 characters, with the option to add photos, gifs, and video and music clips under 60 seconds in length.
Find people to follow with Starter Packs
Starter packs are curated account collections that help you quickly find relevant users and communities. Scroll through starter packs and follow any accounts you find interesting.
Take a look at this starter pack of charities on Bluesky.
You can create your own starter pack, curating a list of users you’d recommend to your followers. This is a fun way to grow your online community, enabling you to introduce supporters to your charity and a community they’ll likely find valuable.
Check out this Bluesky Network Analyser tool to find more people to follow.
Feeds
Bluesky allows users to customise their feeds, making it easier to find the content they’re looking for. Feeds are generally subject based, showing a collection of posts from multiple accounts. If you’re interested in a feed, follow it. It will appear in your feed channel.
Find custom feeds by clicking ‘#’ in your browser/app, or use the ‘feeds’ search box to investigate different topics or hashtags.
As with starter packs, you can create your own feeds. For charities, this offers a practical way to track professional and public conversations that affect your charity.
Building a community
Organic engagement and community building are both vital for charities online. Done well, social media reaches new audiences and deepens conversations, generating significant long-term support and involvement. Engagement works. This charity client is seeing up to 169% audience growth and +300% engagement.
Here are some tips to help you grow a vibrant, Bluesky community that supports your charities mission:
- Complete your profile. No-one wants to connect with a potential bot.
- Find and connect with your people. Use Starter Packs, custom feeds and hashtags to find accounts you want to follow. And don’t forget to reach out and ensure you’re listed in their starter packs too.
- Build relationships, contribute to conversations in a meaningful way, and be authentic.
- Use 2-3 hashtags in your post to increase your visibility. Also, consider creating a branded hashtag for your charity to encourage others to engage with your content.
- Invest in human moderation and engagement to make your audience feel welcome and help keep your community safe.
Currently, you can schedule your posts using Buffer, CoSchedule or SocialBee.
Accessibility on Bluesky
Accessibility is key for those of us wanting to create an inclusive space for everyone to enjoy and contribute to. Bluesky’s accessibility features include alt text, text-to-speech and a setting to require alt text before posting
An alt tag reminder appears automatically when you add a photo to your post. Simply tap it to open and complete the text box.
To require alt text every time you post, head to settings > accessibility, and select ‘require alt text before posting’. Bluesky will then prevent you from sharing your post until you have added alt text to any photos.
Moderation features on Bluesky
One of the big reasons for user discontent with X and Meta has been their increasingly dubious moderation practices, so it is good to see Bluesky prioritising this area. There are several parts to Bluesky’s moderation.
Their team of roughly 100 human moderators reviews user reports, and runs alongside automated moderation systems. We will continue to monitor how Bluesky moderation develops. Click here to read the Bluesky Moderation Report.
To report content or accounts that break platform guidelines, click the offending post, select ‘report’ and a reason, and the human moderation team will review the post.
Lists help users find and mute/block accounts with hateful or extremist views. Unlike X, once you block someone they can’t see your posts any more. If your charity’s community would benefit from a list of unsafe accounts to block, you can create one.
Labels form another part of Bluesky’s stackable moderation strategy. Labels are a way to categorise content and users on Bluesky. They are part of the moderation tools but they can also help to foster community. Recent use of labels to highlight corporate funding of US politicians illustrates the opportunity for creativity in campaigning on new open source platforms.
Next steps
Bluesky has grown at an incredible rate in 2024-5. If your audience is part of the demographic abandoning Meta and X, opportunities for organic engagement and creative campaigning are there for charities ready to take on the challenge.
If you’re searching for tips on how to approach leaving Twitter (X), check our guide for charities looking to leave Twitter / X gracefully.
StrawberrySocial offers tailored moderation and online safety services for brands and charities on Bluesky. Contact us to find out more >