Bluesky has added a bookmarking feature, which means that users can now save posts on the site without anyone else seeing them. You can now get this update on both the Bluesky website and the app.
The bookmarking tool works the same way as similar tools on other social media sites. You just save a post, and then you can go back to it later from the app’s “saved posts” area.
This feature is still pretty basic right now, since there are no options to sort or group bookmarks into folders, but it’s something Bluesky users have been waiting for for a long time.
Users had to find a way around to save posts until now. A developer on the platform made a custom “pinned” feed where people could save posts by replying with a đź“Ś emoji.
The problem with this method was that it wasn’t private because anyone could see the saved posts through a public reply. Users can now save posts privately without having to leave public replies thanks to the new bookmarking feature.
There is even a useful tool that lets you turn “pinned” posts into private bookmarks. Users can either delete their old public pins or leave them as they are.
This feature is especially important because Bluesky is public, so everyone can see likes and other interactions. Public likes aren’t great for everyone, like journalists who might want to save posts for research without letting people know they’re interested.
Some people might want to keep their bookmarked posts private and not let everyone see them. Private bookmarks let you save posts without having to tell everyone about your tastes or research interests.
It’s interesting that on other platforms like X, making likes public has been shown to lower engagement. In response, X hid users’ likes to get people to interact more honestly. But since Bluesky uses the AT Protocol, which doesn’t support private data right now, there is no way to make likes private yet.
Bluesky saves bookmarks “off-protocol” as a workaround so that they stay private. This is similar to how direct messages work on the site. This could get even better if the protocol adds support for private data in the future.
The saved posts feature could make users more likely to interact with content because it makes it easy to save posts they want to see again. Users can make a curated collection of important posts instead of having to scroll through all the posts they casually liked.
It is also a different way to save posts than the popular red pushpin emoji method that a lot of people have been using. Bluesky even has a tool that helps users move their saved files from the old system to this new, private one.
This new bookmarking feature comes right after another Bluesky update that came out just a few days ago. The update added a button for uploading both photos and videos, gave users ways to give feedback to custom feed creators, and let users add people to a “Starter Park,” which is a group of recommended accounts to follow.
In general, adding private bookmarks is a big step forward for Bluesky as it continues to get better. It gives users more privacy, better content management, and more reasons to really get involved with the platform. As Bluesky and the AT Protocol get better, users can look forward to even more features that will make them easier to use and protect their privacy.
