Custom Feeds & Starter Packs

Why discovery on Bluesky runs through feeds and starter packs, and how to use both as durable growth levers.

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Lesson 1: How Bluesky Discovery Actually Works

The biggest mistake people make on Bluesky: assuming the home feed is the discovery surface. It isn't.

The discovery layers

  1. Home feed (chronological from people you follow). Mostly preaches to your existing followers.
  2. Custom feeds. Curated streams of posts matching specific criteria — topic, hashtag, account list, language. Users subscribe to feeds. Your post appearing on a popular feed exposes you to that feed's audience.
  3. What's Hot / Discover feeds. Default-ish feeds that show trending content network-wide.
  4. Starter packs. Curated lists of accounts new users follow in one tap.
  5. Search. Underrated. Bluesky's search is decent and growing.

The growth-relevant layers are #2 and #4. Most "Bluesky doesn't have an algorithm" hot takes ignore that custom feeds are the algorithm — just user-controllable.

Why this is good for you

If you're posting in a specific niche, there's almost certainly a custom feed for that niche. Getting your posts onto that feed is structurally easier than catching a single global algorithm. You're playing many small games instead of one big one.

What this changes about strategy

  1. Niche specificity wins. Generic content fits no feed; niche content fits multiple feeds.
  2. Hashtags matter again. Many feeds filter by hashtag. Hashtags on Bluesky aren't decoration — they're routing.
  3. Consistency beats virality. Feeds reward steady contributors more than one-off viral posts.

Lesson 2: Getting Onto Custom Feeds

There's no "submit your post to feeds" button. Feed inclusion happens because you match a feed's criteria.

The four ways feeds pick posts

  1. By account list. Feed creators include specific accounts. To get on these, you need to be on the creator's radar.
  2. By keyword/hashtag. Feed includes any post with a specific tag or keyword. Easiest to game; just include the tag.
  3. By language/region. Feeds for specific languages or regions.
  4. By engagement threshold. Feeds that show only posts above a certain engagement.

How to systematically get onto more feeds

  1. Find feeds in your niche. Search Bluesky for feed names matching your topic. Subscribe to them; observe who's on them.
  2. Use the right hashtags. Not for vanity — for routing. Posts with #buildinpublic, #threads, #ai (or whatever fits) land on the corresponding feeds.
  3. Engage with feed curators. Many feeds have a curator account. Follow them. Reply to them. Get on their radar.
  4. Make a feed yourself. Curating a feed in your niche puts you in the position of being someone other creators want to be on the radar of.

Hashtag use on Bluesky

  • Use 1-3 specific hashtags per post, not 10.
  • Use established niche hashtags (the ones already powering active feeds).
  • Don't use generic hashtags (#instagood-style ones don't work here).

Lesson 3: Starter Packs as a Growth Lever

Starter packs are curated lists of accounts that new Bluesky users follow in one tap. They're the most underrated growth lever on the platform.

How starter packs work

  1. Anyone can create a starter pack.
  2. A starter pack contains up to ~150 accounts.
  3. When a new user joins or onboards in a niche, they often follow a starter pack to get instant content.
  4. Your inclusion in a popular starter pack drives a follower bump every time someone subscribes to that pack.

How to get onto starter packs

  1. Be on the radar of pack curators. Follow them, engage genuinely with their work, reply thoughtfully.
  2. Be a clear fit for the niche. Vague positioning kills your starter-pack chances. Tight positioning (e.g., "indie SaaS founder building in public") gets you included.
  3. Have a track record. New accounts rarely make it onto established packs. Post for 30+ days first.
  4. Reach out, sparingly. A polite "I love your AI builders pack — would I be a fit?" is fine occasionally. Don't spam this.

Make your own starter pack

Curating a starter pack is one of the highest-leverage things you can do on Bluesky:

  1. Pick a niche you care about.
  2. Curate 50-100 accounts that fit.
  3. Publish the pack. Share it. Update it.
  4. As the pack gains subscribers, you become a node in the niche.

You'll get noticed, included on others' packs, and treated as a curator — all of which compound.

Common myths

  1. "Starter packs don't matter once you're past 1K followers." They do — you keep getting steady follower growth from them long after the initial bump.
  2. "I can't get on starter packs without a network." You don't need a network — you need to be a clear, valuable account in a specific niche. Curators look for those.
  3. "Hashtags are spammy." On Bluesky, used right, they're routing infrastructure.

Action Steps

  1. Find 5 custom feeds in your niche. Subscribe to them. Note their inclusion criteria (hashtags, account lists, etc.).
  2. Find 3 starter packs in your niche. Note who curates them.
  3. In the next 30 days, do two things: (a) consistently use the routing hashtags so feed inclusion happens automatically, and (b) engage genuinely with at least 2 starter pack curators.

Custom feeds and starter packs are the structural advantages Bluesky offers. Use them deliberately. Next lesson: writing posts that work in 300 characters.