A number of prominent (and not so prominent) Lib Dems have deserted Twitter/X for the alternative platform Bluesky.
The party itself can be found at https://bsky.app/profile/libdems.org.uk
Now more than ever, we must stand up for core liberal values—equality, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
Join us in defending these values: http://libdems.org.uk/join
— Liberal Democrats (@libdems.org.uk) November 13, 2024 at 5:42 PM
Bluesky looks and feels very similar to the one we will not mention again. It has one very useful extra feature – starter packs – which are lists of related accounts. The official Lib Dem Starter Pack includes a growing number of MPs, plus the Party President, Mark Pack.
There is also a useful LibDem Starter Pack (note the subtle difference), run by Jennie Rigg, which includes lots of party members.
How can you tell that lots of Lib Dem MPs have started appearing on here?
By the fact that the Chief Whip has popped up to keep an eye on them 🙂
Welcome @wendychambld.bsky.social !
— Mark Pack (@markpackuk.bsky.social) November 14, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Vicki Slade was an early adopter. Here is a post from 3 months ago:
Popped back to London to move into my Parliamentary & have a 2nd tour of the site with my lovely Chief of Staff ! It’s beginning to feel more real & we are finally making a dent in casework & correspondence #StillPinchingMyself #LifeAsAnMP #AnythingIsPossible @libdems.bsky.social
— Vikki Slade MP (@vikkislademp.bsky.social) August 17, 2024 at 9:57 AM
Members of our team here at LDV have been trying it out – Caron Lindsay, Mark Valladares and Charley Hasted. As before, I just lurk on it for information and quotes, so please don’t follow me. We are planning to set up an LDV account and will let you know when it is active.
In the wider world the Guardian has announced: Guardian will no longer post on Elon Musk’s X from its official accounts, although it has not yet appeared elsewhere.
One question from a newbie: do we have a Bluesky equivalent word for “tweet”?
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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6 Comments
This piece made me pull my finger out. I have been intending to create a Bluesky account for a few weeks, and have now done it.
@mohammed-amin-mbe.bsky.social
I will be migrating progressively from Twitter.
Thanks Mary, Bluesky is definitely worth engaging with. In answer to your question, I have seen “bleet” and “skeet” trying to gain traction, but I think the more prosaic “post” is currently winning
I’ve lost a match – I’m going to take my bat and ball away …!
Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform joined Bluesky yesterday!
https://bsky.app/profile/libdems4er.bsky.social
It’s early days for Bluesky, and it seems to be full of people saying how happy they are to be there, while many of those who were on Twitter years ago with the #FBPE hashtag are still on X now.
However, I never liked Twitter even before Musk’s takeover – I described being insulted and then blocked as the digital equivalent of having a door slammed in your face and then locked, while anonymity made things even worse, giving people carte blanche to be aggressive and rude.
And it was not immune from violent language towards women, as Stella Creasy and Caroline Criado-Perez found, both faced with rape threats and death threats back in 2013, though thankfully the culprits were identified – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/04/caroline-criado-perez-twitter-rape-threats
Thankfully, in the unlikely event anything unpleasant appears in the comments section, I know I can communicate with an identifiable human being who can put that right!
Flight?