Bella Blue Sky Thinking
Quick user survey.
At the moment you can share Bella articles on social media to the right of each article offering Facebook; Twitter; Reddit and Tumblr.
Does anyone use Tumblr and Reddit?
The proposal is to change these to Blue Sky and Mastodon, but I want to check with readers / users your views.
Feedback please.
Added note, you can follow us on Blue Sky and Mastodon here:
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I don’t use any of those – having abandoned Twitter / X last month and Facebook in 2018. The only relevant social media platforms I use are Bluesky and LinkedIn.
Thanks, hadn’t thought of LinkedIn
I only use ‘X’ I have no idea what the other services are!
I’m using less and less social media. I like getting the emails from Bella. But I’m using BlueSky and Instagram if any.
I use bluesky , have retained my X AC but go there infrequently
I don’t use Tumblr or Reddit; moved to Mastodon from what was then Twitter when Musk bought it.
Thanks Jennie, that’s my sense of where this is going
Hi, I have dropped X and moved to Bluesky. I enjoy your articles and feel many need shared to a wider audience. If I do that I try to shared to Facebook. I also try to share to my local Yes group via what’s App. Hope this helps.
I only use Mastodon and Lemmy.
Don’t know Lemmy.
Lemmy is a descentralized news aggregator and discussion platform. A simplification would be “it’s to Reddit what Mastodon is to Twitter”.
There’s several communities local to Scotland, this post was even shared in one of them: https://lemmy.world/post/24301832 (wasn’t me ). There’s also lemmy.world/c/scotland and feddit.uk/c/scotland. They’re all federated, like Mastodon, so no matter where you make your user, you can follow most of them (in general).
It is certainly (over)due to add Mastodon, and probably now Bluesky too. In recent circumstances, isn’t it the other 2 of your current 4 share buttons that you should be dumping?
We’re on https://mastodon.scot/@BellaCaledonia – actively considering dropping META but have some following there so trying to take people with us:
Instagram 2,299 followers @bellacaledonia
Bella Caledonia (@bellacaledonia) • Instagram photos and videos
Facebook 13k followers
(20+) Facebook
Twitter @bellacaledonia 59.9k followers
BELLA CALEDONIA (@bellacaledonia) / X
BlueSky, X and FB occasionaly
Bluesky for me. Never use tumblr and rarely look at reddit. I’ve not yet got to grips with Mastodon, and am probably going to stick to Bluesky.
Hi I use Mastodon and moved from Reddit to Lemmy.World
Mastodon and Bluesky would be great additions. It would also be great to remove Facebook and Twitter, but I don’t see many organisations having the courage to do that yet!
Bluesky, Mastodon – yes, I have ditched all the others.
More and more sensible folk have abandoned Musk’s hellscape and opted to use Bluesky. Well over 25 million users now.
I don’t use any of the other platforms you mentioned.
I am not sure about boycotting FB and Twitter – feels like giving up space to enemies. I am starting to use Bluesky.
We’re on Blue Sky here: https://bsky.app/profile/bellacaledonia.bsky.social
I’d argue that Facebook and Twitter ARE the enemy.
Andrew – that reminds me of the story of no one being willing to join the Polish police force after WW2 (given their previous collusion with the Nazis) and so only criminals joined
Mike – I never really used Twitter, only Facebook. Clearly that has to end, but I’m dragging my feet on the tedious business of having to move house. Is there an idiots guide for this idiot?!
Hi – no idiots guide but lots of ‘Starter Packs’ ie lists of people of different interests and specialisms which you can follow en masse to build up your list.
I don’t share on any of these platforms, sending links instead. However given all the adverse developments re the four for those that do share, I think that your propsal is a good one.
I’m on Blu Sky, FB and Instagram and have remained on here ( X) for a short while because there seem so few Scottish folks ( Indy or otherwise) on BluSky- also followed by more people with a larger platform on X but as more leave there is less reason to stay here. FB/Instagram I use for actual friends with similar interests ( music/ poetry/writing/arts ) community where it continues to be valuable.
Thanks Siobhan.
We’re on Blue Sky here: https://bsky.app/profile/bellacaledonia.bsky.social
I’m still on X but it’s begrudgingly. I plan to leave at some point. Blue sky is great yet lacking organisation for timely news and news sources in a way that Twitter used to be. There is opportunity there for that. I’m done with all Meta products. Will keep an active Instagram acct but only in case of people needing to contact me. Otherwise I’m actively aiming to be off Meta platforms. And hope to delete that acct in the future. I haven’t tried Mastodon but I have some friends checking it out.
We’re on Blue Sky here: https://bsky.app/profile/bellacaledonia.bsky.social
and on Mastodon here:
https://mastodon.scot/@BellaCaledonia
Would be delighted if you ditched to Mastodon and Bluesky. Don’t use the others.
(If you don’t know it, Openvibe app lets you manage both simultaneously)
Thanks John, I didn’t know that.
We’re on Blue Sky here: https://bsky.app/profile/bellacaledonia.bsky.social
The only social media I use is Bluesky, I deleted my X account last November
We’re on Blue Sky here: https://bsky.app/profile/bellacaledonia.bsky.social
I use bluesky so would stay connected with you
I’ve switched to Bluesky which I find much more friendly and just as informative as the other platforms. I very occasionally have a look at Facebook.
Lets get out of Facebook and Twitter.
I don’t use either but now on Bluesky I’ve left X
BlueSky, Mastodon here. Although Mastodon less and less since BlueSky seems to have the most momentum.
Definitely publish to BSky that has a growing indy community.
We have started to help build Scottish Independence communities on BSky using the cool Starter Pack feature including Academics, Retired Teachers, Nurses, Farmers & Scots Abroad with more planned.
We have also created our own Starter Pack of communities with their own Starter Packs of community members.
See https://go.bsky.app/L9ZVKhJ
Surely you can see that stats on who is using any of those buttons to share, and from there identify how much traffic is heading your way through each route?
Also, please never ever turn off your RSS feed, which is how I triage your output in amongst the rest of the fire hydrant flow.
Hi Andy – thanks – yes we can see that the vast bulk of our traffic still comes from Facebook and Twitter with Bluesky growing. We still want to check in with our readers about their usage.
Still on Facebook for a small business in a remote area. Gave up on Mastodon. Bluesky and some use of. Reddit
The only ‘Social Media ‘ I use is FTFC = Face to Face Chatting !
I Don’t see the appeal of these gossip sites which appear , from my limited knowledge to promote animosity /sycophancy /Fake news . But then I live in a cave and use carrier pigeons ,mostly, for communications .
I only use Mastodon. But back when I ran a fairly busy website I found that almost no one used those sharing tools anyway. Have you analyzed how much traffic they generate?
Yes, they generate a fair bit of traffic back to the site, Blue Sky and Mastodon less but growing.
Hi, I use mastodon and fb at the moment. But am about to delete my fb account. Deleted my twitter account last year. Trying to detoxify my social media.
Me too. Thanks Margaret
Bluesky for me, have still to check out Mastodon.
I use both Mastodon and Bluesky. I occasionally look to Reddit for reviews.
I agree, including LinkedIn would be useful.
I only actively use Mastodon now. I have a LinkedIn account but rarely look there.
I use Blue Sky and XiaoHongShu now.
I predominantly use Mastodon, dabble on Bluesky and additionally use RSS to follow news and blogs.
I use both Blue Sky and Mastodon. I occasionally look at Reddit for reviews.
Hi. I use Bluesky and Mastodon; Linkedin (rarely); Signal. Never used Tw/Xitter much, but since Musk have abandoned it completely. Stopped using Facebook and Insta (heavy user of the former, rarely used the latter) over a year ago, but given Zuckerberg’s recent antics am also phasing out of WhatsApp, using Signal instead. Have never used Reddit, but do sometimes jump over to an article linked from Bluesky etc.
Hope that helps!
It does, thanks!
… and forget Twitter?
I don’t know, but this needs a rethink on my part. Just had a birthday and received greetings from Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, e-mail and then Royal Mail and telephone.
I get your emails and use FB. None of the others.
Mastodon (.Scot) please! I left twitter ages ago, and am about to ditch facebook
Mastodon please and thank you!
On it
I am gradually weaning myself off X/Twitter to BlueSky. I tried to use Mastodon but found it cumbersome. I am not on any of the other platforms you mentioned. I am on LinkedIn but that’s not really appropriate for politics, IMO.
I used both Bluesky and Mastodon. I don’t use Reddit or Tumblr. Therefore, I support the proposed change.
I’ve moved to Mastodon and deleted all Meta accounts. I guess I’ve got “legacy” accounts on LinkedIn and Tumblr but they’ve been idle for over a decade. Other than that it’s all blogs and RSS feeds.
Yes, I use Reddit and there’s a thriving Scotland subreddit with a generally pro-independence slant (though not as much as in recent years).
Hi, For what it’s worth: I increasingly use BLUSKY, which is clearly growing, and I still use Twitter/X but very carefully. I use Reddit occasionally. I did sign up to Mastodon, but never use it. I’d love to see Bella Caledonia on BLUSKY!
We are on Blue Sky! Give us a follow and we will follow you back:
https://bsky.app/profile/bellacaledonia.bsky.social
I mostly use Instagram, BlueSky, X/Twitter, and LinkedIn. FWIW, MSPs and politically ‘well kent faces’ use LinkedIn, as does the likes of Believe in Scotland and Holyrood Sources podcast.
As do we! : )
Only bluesky
I am more active now at Bluesky than X, though I post links at both sites every day. Delighted to be following you/Bella at Bluesky–thanks for the link!
Just Mastodon now. Deleted Twitter when Musk took over, deactivated Facebook and Instagram after the most recent nonsense, and am trying to get my students onto Signal so I can leave WhatsApp and delete Meta altogether.
I have an account on Reddit, but only for a weird game I play.
Deleted reddit some time ago, never got any helpful responses to questions.
Still have a tumblr account, check it once a month to see if new(ish) owner automattic has plans to rescue it.
Trying to leave meta platforms but need FB & IG for business marketing. Avoid whatshatt unless no alternative.
Left linkedin back when Microsoft bought it – never missed it and my work didn’t suffer
Deactivated & deleted Xitter last year – found everyone I could on Bluesky, it seems to be the place were most journalists & pundits have moved to
Follow you on Bluesky & mastadon, not checked for you on substack or medium
Mastodon!
Bluesky for me!
Mastodon only. Will never use a billionaire-owned platform.
Very much Bluesky now. Would love to daily read new Bella pieces and links on Bluesky.
We’re on Bluesky here: https://bsky.app/profile/bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Follow and we’ll follow back
I use Facebook, not Blue Sky or Mastodon.
Never heard of tumbler or reddit. I’ve recently joined bluesky, although I’m still on twitter but weaning myself off.
Mastodon and Bluesky are the two I use, at present.
I now use Bluesky, Facebook (now only sparingly for family and friends) and LinkedIn occasionally.
Bluesky and Mastodon.
Have never used Reddit or the other one. X account deleted. Tempting to lose Facebook too but connections with friends and family as well as local community news makes it worthwhile despite all the junk and the tosspot owner.
Thanks Seonaidh, there’s a pretty clear picture emerging about our users
I don’t use tumblr or reddit
Only using Bluesky & Mastodon now.
Still waiting for you to follow me back, at Bluesky. 🙂 @bunkunin.bsky.social
Got you now!
I only use Facebook and do occasionally share Bella article there. I don’t see me ever joining any other platforms and who knows how long I will stay on FB.
What I would say though is that even if Bella has no FB presence itself it would make little difference as normally I just paste the URL to this site’s article as a FB post anyway.
I use only Facebook and bluesky
i don’t use any of those