PostEaseThe short answer
Bluesky has no single algorithm deciding who sees your posts. A person’s home screen is a set of feeds they choose. Following shows the accounts they follow, newest first. Discover, Bluesky’s own algorithmic feed, mixes what is trending across the network with posts from accounts they follow and accounts near them in the social graph. And custom feeds, most of them built by independent developers, each select posts by their own rules, usually around a topic or a community.
So getting seen on Bluesky means three things: posting when your followers are reading, being worth engaging with for Discover, and fitting the custom feeds your audience has pinned. Bluesky calls this algorithmic choice: people pick the algorithms, rather than one being picked for them.
The three kinds of feed
Each kind of feed finds posts in a different way, so each rewards something different.
| Feed | What it shows | What gets you into it |
|---|---|---|
| Following | Posts from accounts a person follows, newest first | Followers, and posting when they are reading |
| Discover | What is trending across Bluesky, mixed with posts from accounts a person follows and accounts near their social graph | Engagement, and being close to the reader’s network |
| Custom feeds | Posts chosen by each feed’s own rules, often a topic or a community | Fitting the feed’s rules: its topic, its words, its tags |
Custom feeds are the main way strangers find you
Bluesky says the vast majority of its feeds are built by independent developers, and people pin the ones they like next to Following and Discover. Sprout Social’s 2026 guide describes them as mini-algorithms that curate posts around a theme or behaviour, and notes that a few specific tags connect a post to the feeds where its audience is.
In practice, a feed for a profession, a hobby or a city collects posts that match it. Posting clearly about your subject, in the words and tags that community uses, is how you appear in front of people who have never seen your name.
Starter Packs bring people to you
Bluesky’s Starter Packs are lists anyone can share of up to 150 people and up to 3 custom feeds. A new user who joins through a pack gets its suggested follows and feeds, with Following and Discover pinned automatically. Being in a well-shared Starter Pack for your field puts you in front of every newcomer who uses it, which is why it is worth making one for your community and asking to be included in others.
Timing matters more here
Because Following is in time order, a post lands at the top of your followers’ feeds when you publish and sinks as others post after it. That makes the hour matter more on Bluesky than on TikTok or YouTube. The two large 2026 studies, from Buffer and SocialPilot, disagree on the best day but share weekday evenings, roughly 6 to 9 p.m., as a strong window.
Measuring what works without view counts
Bluesky reports no impression or view count for a post, so you cannot see how many people a post reached. Likes, replies and reposts are the measure. Compare the typical post in each time slot or topic over a few weeks, rather than reacting to one post that did well, and you can see which feeds and hours your audience reads.
What that means for a post
Put the feeds together and a post has three jobs:
- Reach your followers: post when they are reading, since Following is in time order.
- Earn engagement: replies and reposts are how a post spreads through Discover and through people’s networks.
- Fit a feed: write plainly about your subject, using the words and the few specific tags the community’s feeds look for.
What costs a post reach
On Bluesky, reach is lost by not fitting any feed. With no single algorithm, a post that names no clear subject, uses none of the words or tags its community’s feeds look for, and replies to no one, appears only in its followers’ Following feed. Writing plainly about your subject, using a few specific tags, and taking part in conversations is what puts posts in Discover and custom feeds.
Questions
Does Bluesky have an algorithm?
Several, and people choose among them. Following is in time order, Discover is Bluesky’s own algorithmic feed, and custom feeds built by others each have their own rules.
How do I get into Bluesky custom feeds?
Post about the topic a feed collects, in the words and tags its community uses. Each feed has its own rules, so read the description of the feeds your audience follows.
Do hashtags work on Bluesky?
A few specific ones help, because some custom feeds collect posts by tag. Sprout Social’s 2026 guide recommends a small number of specific tags over many broad ones.
Can I see how many people saw my Bluesky post?
No. Bluesky gives no impression or view count for a post. Likes, replies and reposts are the numbers you have.
Is the Discover feed the same for everyone?
No. Bluesky says Discover mixes what is trending across the network with posts from accounts a person follows and accounts near them in the social graph, so it differs for each person.
What is a Bluesky Starter Pack?
A shareable list of up to 150 people and up to 3 custom feeds. New users who join through one start with its suggested follows and feeds.
Sources
- Bluesky, Algorithmic choice with custom feeds, July 2023.
- Bluesky, Introducing Bluesky Starter Packs, June 2024.
- Sprout Social, How to build your Bluesky strategy, July 2026.
- Buffer, The best time to post on Bluesky, August 2026.
- SocialPilot, The best time to post on Bluesky in 2026, August 2026.