muvon/octomind-tap/social-bluesky

Overview

Write something the intended reader can use, in language the actual author would choose. Apply this precedence: supplied facts and proof, then documented author voice, then platform constraints. Use platform register only as a fallback; publication is a downstream step.

Mental model

Keep post text within 300 grapheme clusters (official, Post lexicon, 2026-09). Validate the final composer text after inserting mention handles, links, and emoji; don't estimate a URL discount or count bytes.

Attach up to 10 photos; the carousel appears from 5 photos (official, Photos release, 2026-06). Video allows up to 10 minutes and 300 MB (official, Video release, 2026-08). These are ceilings, not targets. Check the actual combination of quote, image, GIF, video, and link preview in the composer; the supplied evidence doesn't establish a universal embed-exclusivity rule.

Automatic thread numbering was introduced as a beta option; its feature gate was subsequently removed (official, Thread numbering, 2026-08; App releases, 2026-09). Inspect the thread composer and preview; don't assume numbering is enabled or type duplicate markers. Make every installment understandable alone (directional).

Open reference/platform-mechanics.md when preparing media, a thread, community seeding, account controls, or a launch involving chats. It separates verified features from controls requiring a current UI check.

Format and anatomy rules

Start on the useful detail. Keep a single idea per post, provide enough context to understand it, and stop when it is complete (directional).

Write alt descriptions for visible meaning and relevant screenshot text; don't use the field as an overflow post, hidden joke, or keyword list. Bluesky documents search matches in image alt text, so it is public searchable content, not a private metadata field (official, Search Tips, 2024-05; writing advice is directional). Prepare captions for speech and an asset brief identifying source and crop. Preview accessibility fields and captions; don't assert an unsupported alt-text cap.

Use only relevant hashtags supported by the topic or a verified feed criterion. Preserve readable capitalization; don't impose lowercase or a numeric tag quota (directional).

Launch and proof posts

Collect the audience and buying situation, promise, source-backed proof, desired action, destination, campaign stage, and disclosure obligations. Stages include teaser, launch day, proof, objection, and recap. Record the author's role and actual experience. Choose no CTA deliberately when the post's job is explanation (directional).

Don't invent personal history, customer quotes, measurements, timelines, or shipped results. Obtain missing evidence before treating a draft as publishable; omit a claim if the author can't substantiate it.

Length bands below describe editorial density, not performance optima. Every installment remains within the text ceiling above.

Bluesky says it doesn't punish links and encourages off-platform clicks (official, Bluesky outlook, 2026-01). Put the destination in the root when it serves the reader; use a reply for supplementary detail and a profile link as a stable fallback (directional). Don't hide every launch link in replies to evade an invented penalty. Community-built Offprint, Leaflet, and pckt.blog are long-form options supported by Bluesky's publishing partnership (official, Summer of Standard.site, 2026-06).

Keep consistent utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign; use utm_content to distinguish placements (official, Google URL builder, 2026-09). Verify that the destination matches the promise. Separate attributed visits and activation from public interactions (directional).

Disclose affiliation and sponsorship plainly: undisclosed commercial content, disruptive repetition, and artificial social-signal manipulation are prohibited (official, Community Guidelines, 2025-09). Don't organize engagement pods or scripted employee replies. For voluntary employee shares, use the person's real involvement and disclose the relationship (directional).

For community seeding, inspect relevant feeds and starter packs, respect their inclusion choices, and answer existing needs. Pack reference-list opt-out UI exists (official, App releases, 2026-09). Don't promise placement, demand reposts, or bypass an opt-out. Use chats only for invited follow-through (directional).

Illustrative launch calendar: offsets are planning examples, not measured best intervals. Skip a slot without new evidence; arrange reply coverage during the first hours after each post (directional).

Choose a founder handle for lived decisions and a brand handle for product availability or support, according to the real speaker; no verified Bluesky founder-versus-brand uplift is supplied (directional). Brands needn't imitate an engineer or adopt forced banter.

Voice on this platform

Keep content-voice as the generic baseline. For Bluesky, read the surrounding conversation for subject depth, formality, and humor before replying. Match its context without impersonating participants. Art commentary may be playful; a service update should be practical; technical claims need precision. Don't impose a platform-wide political identity or engineering register (directional).

Preserve the author's contractions, fragments, and punctuation. Introduce no typos, fake edits, dropped articles, or lowercase camouflage. Retain an effective em dash, but revise repeated dash pivots or dash-heavy short posts; don't impose a quota or remove useful punctuation merely to look human (directional, Aborn and Cox).

Apply practitioner heuristics as editorial judgment, never authorship detection: remove filler, empty suspense, unsupported novelty claims, and endings that merely solicit engagement. Keep useful contrasts, lists, questions, and summaries; don't replace the author's style with punctuation, contraction, or sentence-length quotas (directional, Aborn, Cox, Gichigi). Retain real tradeoffs and uncertainty. An ordinary sincere acknowledgment can be a complete reply; it needs no invented anecdote or forced follow-up question (directional).

Carry supplied facts into cross-posts, then rebuild the Bluesky framing and CTA for the actual reader. Don't anchor adaptation on another network's character limit (directional).

Cadence and engagement

Measured signals

Video had median 5 interactions, images 4, and links and text 3 each (measured, Buffer engagement, n=Buffer-published Bluesky subset, 2026-03). Sprout found 45% of surveyed Bluesky users most likely to engage with text-based brand posts (measured, Sprout platform survey, n=Bluesky survey subset, 2026-03). These measure different populations and outcomes; test relevant media without replacing useful text with decorative assets (directional).

Author replies correlated with 5% higher Bluesky engagement in a within-account comparison; causality wasn't established (measured, Buffer engagement, n=nearly two million cross-platform posts, 2026-03). Reserve time to answer meaningful replies. Ask questions only when the answers will be useful (directional).

Test audience-local Saturday 5 p.m., Saturday 6 p.m., or Sunday 9 a.m.; weekday evenings around 6–9 p.m. were stronger than late mornings in the study (measured, Buffer timing, n=over three million posts, 2026-08). Follow your audience's baseline and availability, without a universal daily cap or expiry window (directional).

Open reference/measured-signals.md when selecting formats, comparing results, or planning timing. It contains sample limits, survey findings, and starter-pack/custom-feed evidence. Re-measure against dated post samples instead of reviving universal repost ratios.

What gets suppressed

Bluesky reports detecting and downranking toxic or spammy posts (official, Bluesky outlook, 2026-01). Use a fresh, useful follow-up instead of repeating the announcement. Don't interpret weak engagement as proof of bots or punishment (directional).

Automated accounts self-label as bots on the profile and like, repost, or reply only to users who tagged them; unsolicited bot interaction reads as spam (official, Bluesky bot docs, reviewed 2026-10). Rate limits and API detail: reference/platform-mechanics.md.