Bluesky, an open network social network with a similar social media networking text format to X (formerly Twitter) has jumped on the “video action” too.
Earlier this morning [January 20, 2025], the rival of X announced the launch of a custom feed featuring vertical videos in its application.
In an official post on the Bluesky platform, the company expressed, “We had to get in on the video action too — Bluesky now has custom feeds for video!”
With Bluesky’s custom video feed, users will be able to treat the platform like any other social media feed. Bluesky says it's up to the user to pin the videos or not.
This launch comes after the future of TikTok remains uncertain in the US. Despite Donald Trump declaring “We have to save it”, in a rally on Sunday before the President-elect is officially sworn in for his second term at the White House, TikTok continues to face danger in the country.
For now, the video-based social media platform has restored services in the country but this has not stopped other social media companies from taking advantage of the market.
How to Use Bluesky Video Features
Bluesky says that users can swipe up to enter a timeline of only video posts in video custom feeds.
Users can try this feature by “clicking into this video custom feed and scrolling up.”
We had to get in on the video action too — Bluesky now has custom feeds for video! Like any other feed, you can choose to pin these or not. Bluesky is yours to customize.
— Bluesky (@bsky.app) 20 January 2025 at 03:41
Independent no-code tools, such as Graze Social, a platform that democratises algorithms and provides detailed feed analytics along with the Skyfeed app, a real-time client for Bluesky have paved the way for users to create custom feeds.
Graze Social and Skyfeed are actively working on adding support for video feeds. This means users taking advantage of the Bluesky app’s tools will soon be able to devise custom feeds that include both text and video content.
“With custom feeds, you can customise your Bluesky experience,” posted Bluesky in a thread on their application. “The ability to swipe vertically between videos is specific to video custom feeds.”
“Standard custom feeds and posts that contain video don’t automatically enter you into a video timeline”
Bluesky Ambitious Plans to replace TikTok
It also seems like AT Protocol Developers, Bluesky’s social networking technology also devising video-only applications.
While Bluesky hasn't officially launched a dedicated video app yet, there's buzz around a potential contender called "Skylight." Skylight’s bio on the Bluesky platform says that @skylight.social is using atproto to build a TikTok alternative.
Tori, one of the developers of Skylight Social posted on Bluesky on Sunday [January 20, 2025]:
“One of the coolest coolest parts of releasing the at protocol TikTok (aka @skylight.social) after only 72 hours of building, is that every time users open the app, they’ll see new updates!!”
“Hopefully every update brings it closer and closer to the community feeling so many of us experienced on TikTok!,” added Tori.
One of the coolest parts of releasing the at protocol TikTok (aka @skylight.social) after only 72 hours of building, is that every time users open the app, they’ll see new updates!! Hopefully every update brings it closer and closer to the community feeling so many of us experienced on TikTok!
Bluesky reported that the new custom video feed feature update is “rolling out on mobile now!”
“If you don’t see the new video feed, try restarting your app once or twice to let the latest changes take effect.”
