Not Everyone Wants the Spotlight

Bluesky just handed its users a quiet little superpower: the ability to disappear from the algorithmic crowd.

On Thursday, the open social network rolled out an algorithmic opt-out feature that stops your posts from surfacing in the main Discover feed. It arrived less than 24 hours after Bluesky added support for longer videos — a busy week for the team.

The Discover feed, for the uninitiated, can currently pull in just about any public post on the network. Bluesky posts are public by default, which means a stray thought can suddenly find itself in front of thousands of strangers. Not everyone wants that.

What This Feature Actually Does (and Doesn’t Do)

Let’s clear up a common misconception right away. This is not a privacy toggle. Your posts remain public, and anyone with a link can still see them. Bluesky is still building private data support at the protocol level — that’s a separate project.

What the opt-out does is make your posts less discoverable to people outside your existing circle. It’s a visibility dial, not a lock.

The company says it built this because some people just want to post for their followers. They don’t want their words amplified to a larger crowd. They don’t want to go viral. Simple as that.

How to Turn It On

If you’re ready to step out of the algorithmic spotlight, here’s what to do:

1. Open the Bluesky app on your device.
2. Head to Settings, then Privacy and Security.
3. Toggle on the new option to stop your posts from appearing in Discover.

One small caveat: the change can take up to an hour to fully take effect. So if you flip the switch and immediately check the Discover feed, you might still spot your post lingering there. Patience is key.

An Account-Level Setting That Travels With You

Here’s where Bluesky’s implementation gets interesting. This isn’t just a setting that lives inside the Bluesky app. The preference is recorded at the account level, which means it travels with you across the AT Proto ecosystem.

Let’s say you post from another app built on the same underlying protocol — something like a third-party client or a custom feed tool. That app will see your preference and know you’ve opted out.

But here’s the catch: those other apps have access to the information, yet they still have to choose whether to respect it. Bluesky is essentially setting a standard and hoping the ecosystem follows along. The protocol can carry the message, but it can’t force compliance.

Why This Matters for the Fediverse-Style Future

Bluesky’s approach is a small but meaningful step toward user agency in social media. The company is betting that people want more control over how their content flows, not just what they see.

It’s a different philosophy from the algorithmic giants that dominate the space. On platforms like X or Instagram, the algorithm decides who sees what, and users have little say in the matter. Bluesky is flipping that script, at least partially.

This also raises a broader question: if the AT Proto ecosystem grows, will other apps honor these preferences? The protocol can encode the intent, but enforcement is another matter entirely. It’s a test of whether decentralized social media can actually deliver on its promises.

The Bigger Picture: Slowing Down the Virality Machine

The Bluesky social network has been on a roll lately, adding features at a brisk pace. Longer videos yesterday, algorithmic opt-out today. The company seems intent on building a platform that feels less like a popularity contest and more like a community.

For those who’ve been burned by viral moments they never asked for, this feature is a welcome reprieve. It’s a recognition that not everyone wants the same experience — some people are chasing reach, while others just want to talk to their friends.

Bluesky’s privacy and safety tools are clearly evolving, and this latest addition shows the team is listening to the quieter voices in its user base. The question now is whether the rest of the ecosystem will follow suit.

One thing’s for sure: the opt-out won’t stop you from going viral on other platforms. But on Bluesky, at least, you now have a say in the matter. That’s more than most social networks offer.

Content Anchoring: A New Way to Think About Your Strategy

Content anchoring isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a practical approach to making your brand’s message stick. The idea is simple: you create a central piece of content that serves as the anchor for all your other marketing efforts. Think of it as your North Star, guiding every post, video, and newsletter you publish.

Why does this matter now? With attention spans shrinking and algorithms constantly shifting, marketers can’t afford to scatter their efforts. Anchoring your content gives you a consistent thread that ties everything together. It builds trust, reinforces your expertise, and makes your messaging more memorable.

How to Implement Content Anchoring Today

• Pick a core topic that aligns with your audience’s biggest pain point.
• Create one flagship asset—like a comprehensive guide, a webinar, or a case study—that dives deep into that topic.
• Repurpose that anchor into shorter posts, infographics, and email snippets across your channels.

This isn’t about creating more content; it’s about creating content that works harder. When every piece points back to your anchor, you’re not just posting—you’re building a narrative.

New Instagram Tactics: What’s Working Right Now

Instagram keeps evolving, and the tactics that worked last quarter might already feel stale. The latest updates focus on authenticity and direct engagement. Carousels are still a favorite, but now they’re being used for storytelling rather than just listicles. Short-form video, especially Reels, continues to dominate reach.

One tactic gaining traction is the ‘close friends’ feature for exclusive content. Marketers are using it to create a sense of VIP access, which boosts loyalty and encourages more intimate interactions. Another is the shift toward SEO on Instagram—optimizing your bio and captions with keywords is becoming as important as it is on Google.

Don’t overlook the power of interactive stickers in Stories. Polls, quizzes, and emoji sliders aren’t just fun; they’re data goldmines. They give you immediate feedback and tell the algorithm that your content is engaging.

Practical Instagram Tips You Can Use

• Test ‘close friends’ for exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
• Write captions with search intent—think about what users might type to find you.
• Use carousels to tell a story across 5-8 slides, not just to share tips.

These tactics aren’t revolutionary, but they’re effective because they align with how users actually behave on the platform. Instagram wants to keep people on the app longer, and your content should help it do that.

Industry News: The Half-Price Ticket Sale You Shouldn’t Miss

If you’re a marketer, you’ve probably heard of Social Media Marketing World and AI Business World. Right now, they’re offering 50% off all tickets—but only this week. That’s a significant discount for events that are packed with actionable insights.

Why should you care? These conferences bring together industry leaders who share case studies, emerging trends, and networking opportunities that you can’t get from a blog post alone. Whether you’re focused on social media strategy or the intersection of AI and business, there’s something for you.

The sale ends soon, so if you’ve been considering attending, this is your chance to save money while investing in your professional growth. Don’t wait until the last minute—these tickets tend to sell out.

Quick Recap: Your Actionable Takeaways

Let’s wrap up with what you can actually use today. Content anchoring gives you a strategic focus, Instagram tactics help you engage better, and industry events offer learning opportunities that pay off in the long run.

Here’s your checklist:

• Identify your anchor content and create a flagship asset.
• Update your Instagram strategy with one new tactic this week.
• Check out the ticket sale before it ends.

Stay ahead of the curve by keeping an eye on these trends. The marketing world moves fast, but with these insights, you’re not just keeping up—you’re leading.

Why Flipboard just bought a two-person startup

Flipboard, the news magazine app that has pivoted hard toward the open social web, announced Wednesday that it’s acquiring Graze, a Portland-based startup that lets people build, customize, and monetize feeds on Bluesky.

It’s a small deal — Graze raised just $1 million at the start of 2025 and has only two employees. But the acquisition says a lot about where Flipboard CEO Mike McCue thinks the social internet is heading.

Graze has been live for 21 months. In that time, its feeds have pushed out over 41 billion posts to roughly 12 million users, according to the company. Today, more than 7,000 feeds run on its platform, and about 60% of that traffic is monetized.

How Graze makes money without tracking you

The core idea is simple: curators build feeds around a topic or community, and brands buy ad placements in those feeds. The curator gets to approve which ads run. The revenue is split 70/30 in favor of the feed creator.

What makes this different from the ads you see on Facebook or Google is the absence of cross-site tracking. No following users around the web. No surveillance-style profiling.

Instead, ads are contextual. A brand that wants to reach game developers buys a spot in a feed run by game developers. The audience is the context.

McCue told TechCrunch that the adtech “doesn’t have to surveil anybody, and it doesn’t have to violate people’s privacy.” He added: “The key thing is that all the economics aren’t just going to one player. The ad revenue is being shared with the feed builder.”

From Surf app collaboration to full acquisition

Flipboard had already been using Graze’s technology inside its new app, Surf, which is designed as a browser for the open social web. That collaboration revealed something: the two companies were building toward the same vision, but duplicating each other’s work.

Graze co-founder and CEO Devin Gaffney realized his startup could move faster with a partner that already had the advertising infrastructure — and the brand relationships — that Graze lacked.

Post-acquisition, Flipboard will keep using Graze’s tech and let users build their own feeds. That capability will expand beyond Bluesky to everything running on the AT Protocol, including Flipboard’s own app.

What is the AT Protocol, anyway?

The AT Protocol is an open technical standard that lets different apps share the same underlying social network. Think of it as a common language for social platforms. Bluesky is built on it, and so is Surf. The idea is that you shouldn’t be locked into one company’s app to access your social graph.

The human side of feed curation

McCue made an interesting point in the interview about how users actually think about these feeds.

“They don’t think of it as, like, ‘I’m joining Bluesky’ or ‘I’m joining the social web, the open social web.’ They just think I’m joining The Tea because ‘I care about women’s sports,'” he said, referencing a Surf community feed called Bet on Her.

That’s the bet Flipboard is making: people will follow interests, not platforms. And if that’s true, then the people who curate those interest-based feeds deserve a cut of the ad money.

What this means for the open social web

The acquisition is another signal that the open social web is moving from a niche experiment to something with real economic structure. Flipboard has been investing heavily in this space, and Graze gives it a proven monetization layer.

For feed creators, the deal means more tools and, potentially, more revenue opportunities. For brands, it offers an alternative to the surveillance-based ad model that has dominated digital advertising for two decades.

Whether that alternative scales remains to be seen. But with Flipboard’s infrastructure behind it, Graze’s approach to contextual ads on open social web feeds just got a much bigger stage.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.