Skeetdeck
We mentioned Skeetdeck in Self-Promoting on Bluesky: Algorithm Free? as a way to save drafts and compose threads directly, which are 2 basic functionalities missing from the social media platform. At the time, we hadn't tried it yet, but recently, we posted a thread from there and things got weird.
The Drafts function isn't as smooth as Twitter's, but making threads is pretty simple. It reminded us of Threads. What also reminded us of Threads was the hashtags being added separately. We added the emojis necessary to post to Bsky Book Club and BookSky 💙📚 (Note: the actual emojis are the cute Android ones, not these freaky-looking Blogger versions) as hashtags and also 'BookSky'. Because we didn't want to go search for the Feeds to add them to our deck, we checked it on the Bluesky app and it didn't turn up in any of the Feeds. It was visible on our profile, the Following Feed, and when we searched for #BookSky. So, we did an experiment and posted the exact same thread on the Bluesky app. It worked and the first post turned up in those Feeds and also Writing and Books. All 3 Feeds only showed the second thread. Meanwhile, over at Skeetdeck, we could see both, which means the problem wasn't putting the emojis as hashtags. Oh, by the way, the added hashtags weren't visible when we saw the first thread on the Bluesly app, but since the post turned up on our search, they are active.
We've now done another experiment and posted a different thread with the hashtags in the post text (#blogging and #WritingCommunity) rather than adding them separately with 'tags'. This time, it worked. We'll be trying again but using 'tags' and see what happens. We still have no idea what was wrong with the other post. The possibility of people seeing or not seeing things based on which app they're using to access Bluesky is a pretty big problem for anyone trying to self-promote on the platform.
Third experiment (good thing no one has read this yet), but the results are inconclusive because we added the emojis to the post text and have no idea what the Writing and Books Feed is picking up. We have to try again but without emojis. The fact that the hashtags added with the tag feature disappear on the Bluesky app makes the fact that they're clickable pretty much useless, though.
Experience number 4! The tag feature works if it's only text, but like we said, the hashtags added that way aren't visible on the Bluesky app. Since one of the options, which isn't available on the Skeetdeck app, lets you see all the posts with the same hashtag from that particular user, that robs you of an opportunity for engagement and growing your following. Also, we don't seem to be able to get the added columns to stick after logging out. They all just disappear and have to be added again. We looked for a save option or something similar but couldn't find one. We also googled about it, but nothing turned up.
This is all so ridiculous! Drafts and threads are basic functionalities for a social media platform; users shouldn't need a whole other app to be able to have them. However, for some reason, instead of fixing this, Bluesky seems focused on finding new ways to attract ever more users, like the recently introduced Starter Packs that allow users to share collections of Feeds and accounts to follow.
