Education Trends

How Bluesky Can Help You Build Your PLN

This decentralized social media platform maximizes your ability to choose what you see and puts you in control of all your interactions.

January 29, 2025

Your content has been saved!

Go to My Saved Content.
Collage by Becky Lee for Edutopia, Dobrila Vignjevic / iStock, BlueSky

If you’re like many social media–savvy educators, you may have spent years building your professional learning network (PLN) on the platform formerly known as Twitter. From educational threads and chats to finding like-minded teachers across the globe, it felt like the very best of one great big teacher workroom. During the Covid-19 years, especially, it was a lifeline, with many educators hosting virtual meet-ups and talks in addition to posting daily. Lately, however, the platform has felt less like a place to easily extend an educator PLN, and educators, among others, have been looking for alternatives.

Enter Bluesky, a platform that has seen an incredible burst of growth in recent weeks. Just as many of the educators who have spent years around social media campfires advocate for student voice and choice, Bluesky is different because it prioritizes user choice over app engagement. Users determine what shows up in their feed by curating feeds and accounts to follow. The platform offers a space that’s still evolving but one that already feels more in tune with the needs of educators. Here’s what Matt Miller, from Ditch That Textbook, loves about Bluesky:

Starter packs are incredible. Before I knew about them, one of my concerns about “starting over” on Bluesky was rebuilding my PLN. Starter packs let me bulk add educator accounts that are curated by people that I know, respect, and trust. I won’t just add any old starter pack. But lots of them have helped me create a critical mass of followed accounts that have strengthened my feed. Not everyone in those starter packs is a good fit, so I’ll have to unfollow some accounts... but I’m much better off because of them.

For those with similar starting-over concerns, Alice Keeler, edtech expert, teacher, and early Bluesky beta user, maintains a list of educators as well as tabs organizing feeds, starter packs, and EduChats from reliable sources. Those resources are organized around #EduSky, which makes it easy for educators looking for known connections to find each other easily. Similarly, Black educators—who still make up only 6 percent of the public school teaching population—have rallied around #BlackEduSky to support each other through concerns that are often unique to the demographic. 

What Makes Bluesky Different?

While no platform where humans gather can be free from negativity, one opinion that keeps coming up is “It’s a breath of fresh air.” Bluesky runs on a system where users, not a central authority, are in control. Your data? It’s yours. Your feed? Fully customizable. There is no algorithm—unless you choose to build a custom feed of your own.

For users of platforms like Mastodon, decentralization is not a new concept. However, for the less tech-nerdy among us, think of decentralization as being like a school where each classroom is run independently by a teacher who manages protocols and content. But instead of the students being set up with a roster of classes chosen by the administration or based on tracks, students can choose which classes they interact with and how deeply they interact with the class content. In this way, the students drive content consumption, rather than the teacher or a state agency (the algorithm).

With a decentralized platform, everyone has more choice and control while, still having the benefit of being connected to the larger system. 

Privacy Matters

On Bluesky, user activity is public, making transparency a key feature. Publicly accessible information includes posts, likes, attached photos, past handles (which can’t be deleted), followers, blocked accounts, and even moderation and user lists. It should be noted that while this openness fosters connection, it also means that actions are more visible on Bluesky than on some other platforms.

On the private side, details like muted accounts or words; your preferences; personal information like email, birthday, and phone; invitations; subscribed moderation services; and saved feeds are known only to you—and any apps you explicitly authorize. Finally, although direct messages are private between participants, they’re not yet end-to-end encrypted, so Bluesky can theoretically access them until encryption is fully implemented.

Getting Started

Author, speaker, and host of Rethinking Learning Barbara Bray wrote these tips for new users:

  • Bluesky is growing daily. Not sure how to engage and grow your network? 
  • Write about YOU in the profile so others know more about you before connecting.
  • Follow folks with similar interests. 
  • Add posts with resources and ideas. 
  • The more posts you like and reply to, the stronger the platform becomes! 
  • Be kind. It matters here on Bluesky.
  • Be respectful of others. 
  • If you use someone’s ideas, give them credit.

Additionally, if you like to schedule posts ahead of time within the app, you’ll be glad to know that Tweetdeck has, according to Bluesky, a “spiritual successor” in DeckBlue.

A Fresh Start for Online Communities

For educators, Bluesky represents more than just a new platform—it’s a chance to start fresh. The migration isn’t just about leaving something behind; it’s about moving toward something better. So far, it seems that Bluesky provides a space where user voice matters, privacy is respected, and the community actively works toward exemplifying the best of what social media can be.

Whether you’re drawn to the privacy controls, the collaborative vibe, or the excitement of building something new, Bluesky may be the place to find familiar faces or make new friends from the educational community looking to share resources and ideas.

Share This Story

  • bluesky icon
  • email icon

Filed Under

  • Education Trends
  • Professional Learning

Follow Edutopia

  • facebook icon
  • bluesky icon
  • pinterest icon
  • instagram icon
  • youtube icon
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia is an initiative of the George Lucas Educational Foundation.
Edutopia®, the EDU Logo™ and Lucas Education Research Logo® are trademarks or registered trademarks of the George Lucas Educational Foundation in the U.S. and other countries.