From skeets to lists and feeds

Are you one of the millions of people who recently migrated from X to Bluesky? If so, let’s demystify some of the new terminology you may have come across.

What is a Skeet?

First, perhaps the most awkward and not very popular term: “skeet”. A skeet is simply a post that X used to call a tweet. At 300 characters instead of 280, they are slightly longer than a post on X – at least a post that you can write for free.

This term is not used or shown as much in the UI. Aside from minor differences, you can think of a skeet the same way you think of a tweet. The biggest difference is that posts you write are more likely to be seen by people who follow you. The default feed (“Timeline”) displays all posts from people you follow, rather than using an algorithm that tailors your feed to your needs.

And what are feeds?

Speaking of “feeds”: Bluesky uses them too, but this makes them much more powerful. The directory allows you to search for and subscribe to interesting feeds other than the default timeline. Each feed is a collection of posts, with an algorithm that decides which posts it contains.

The feeds you subscribe to appear as tabs at the top of your timeline and in the right pane.

A popular feed, created by Bluesky developer Jaz, is “My Pins.” This handy feed shows you all the posts you’ve replied to with a pin emoji (📌), acting as a simple bookmarking service.

Custom feeds can be created by anyone, although the hurdles are quite high: you need programming experience and a good command of the Bluesky API.

How about lists?

While a feed is a collection of skeets, a “list” is a collection of user accounts. They are often used as a moderation tool to collect accounts that exhibit negative behavior such as spamming or posting insults. However, their use can be controversial: political lists may only serve to promote racial segregation.

“Starter packs” are a special type of list that fulfills a completely positive function. These lists contain user accounts that are typically dedicated to a specific topic and are referred to as recommended accounts. For example, if you want to follow your favorite How-To Geek authors, there’s a starter pack for that:

The handles look a bit strange though…

Just like with X, your username is the key to Bluesky interactions. Both services sometimes refer to it as a handle, but Bluesky’s has at least one point, as they are all also domain names.

…for example, you will see “@georgetakei.bsky.social” instead of “@GeorgeTakei”. However, you can change your handle to a custom domain if you own one. Big accounts like @nytimes.com have done just that.

Is there anything else I should know?

Most of the other terms you see on Bluesky will be familiar and intuitive. “Chat” is the equivalent of “Messages” from It’s worth taking a look at our Bluesky beginner’s guide if you’re still unsure how to get started.

Remember that Bluesky offers many options to customize the service to your liking. So, experiment by configuring your Follow feed or creating a custom feed. Also, remember to check the settings when publishing a new Skeet.