Weekly Update – November 26, 2024
First, quickly, The Great Rock & Roll Time Trip Tour, is heading out for editing. If my timeline holds, I’ll have the edited manuscript back by the end of the year, and then it’ll be a matter of getting the cover art done, and my artist Tricia is already brainstorming ideas for that.
Now, onto a topic that may be of interest to other writers out there, and maybe to readers as well, and that topic is the hot social media platform known as Bluesky.
I qualify as a “Bluesky Elder,” which means I was among the platform’s earliest adopters, back when you needed an invitation code to get in, so I’ve seen the platform’s growth and improvement, and I am definitely seeing the massive explosion of growth since the election. My own follower count has about tripled over the past two weeks.
But I’m not here to brag about follower counts. I’m here to explain why, if you’ve been holding out on trying Bluesky, you should give it a go.
1: The creative community is huge and growing. Whether you’re a visual or performing artist, you can find your people fairly easily through hashtags, curated follower lists, and “Starter Packs,” which are collections of users that you can skim and follow as you find people who look cool.
2: No algorithm. Trust me, that’s a big deal. If you follow someone and they post? You see it. It’s there in your feed. The site isn’t deciding whether to show it to you based on past interactions, and it’s not pushing your post to other users based on their interactions. Stuff doesn’t get buried by the algorithm.
3: The Nuclear Block. This is the aspect of Bluesky that has been the focus on a fair number of handwringing thinkpieces in the media calling the platform an “echo chamber.” Basically what it means is, if you block someone, they can’t see you anymore, you can’t see them anymore, no one else can see anything that person has posted on your timeline. Coupled with the Bluesky philosophy of “do not engage, just block and move on,” it’s a fantastic tool for stopping the trolls and bad actors cold — which, of course, is why they hate it so much. The shitty people who made Twitter so toxic can’t get a foothold, so the rest of us get to post about our art, our lives, and yes, our politics without some chud coming along to stir shit up — and if they do? They’re unceremoniously blocked so we never have to think of them again.
4: It’s not choked with advertising or monetized up the wazoo. Yet. This may of course change as the platform gets more popular, but for now, it’s a commercialization, capitalism-free space, and I plan to enjoy that for however long it lasts.
5: No AI scraping. The owners have made it clear they don’t scrape content for AI training and plan to keep it that way. Again, this may change, but if the platform remains responsive to its user base, it may not. It’s gaining popularity because it is trying not to be Twitter, and a lot of people want that, so why ruin a good thing?
If you decide to dive in, here is my advice for making the most of it: set up your profile with a proper pic, a bio, and a banner image so people know you’re a real person; search the default feeds (“What’s Hot”) and search hashtags for other users you might want to follow (#writingcommunity is a good one for writers) and then follow them; interact with other users because, remember, no algorithm, and entice them to follow you back by showing them you’re cool; and above all, if someone comes along who behaves like a dick, or gives off bad vibes, or looks like they’re trying to start a flame war, don’t waste time dunking on them, BLOCK AND MOVE ON. And if you want to pass along the offender’s info so others can block as well, always screencap, do not share the OP.
See you over there! I’m at @mbaileywriter.bsky.social
WRITING PROJECTS
Action Figures – Legacies: Third draft in editing stage.
Action Figures – Untitled sequel to Legacies – Second draft completed.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – untitled book eight: Third draft completed.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – untitled book nine: First draft underway.
The Great Rock & Roll Time Trip Tour – Second draft complete, undergoing editing.
APPEARANCES & EVENTS
Nothing currently scheduled.
MISC.
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