Bluesky: post types, limits, discovery and how to post
Bluesky has no ads, no payouts and no single algorithm — and a small, very online audience that actually reads. Here's what a short-form operator can post there, the limits (tight on size), how custom feeds replace the For You page, and why it's worth one channel toggle.
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Platform facts checked against Bluesky's own documentation, August 2026.
Bluesky is the outlier in the roster: an open-protocol network where the feed you see is chosen by you, not assigned. That makes it a poor place to chase cold reach and a good place to be found by people looking for a topic. Treat it as a text platform that plays video, like X and Threads, with a smaller and more deliberate audience.
Post types
| Type | On Bluesky | Through VidVertex |
|---|---|---|
| Text post | The native format, 300 characters | Yes — text stack, up to 4 images |
| Video post | Video with text, up to 3 minutes | Yes — rendered per brand |
| Carousel | Up to 4 images in one post | Yes — image carousel |
| Story | Not a format | No |
| Custom feeds, lists, starter packs | Discovery tools, in-app | No |
Formats, lengths, limits
- Text: 300 characters. Hard limit, no paid tier to lift it.
- Video: up to 3 minutes since March 2025 (it was 60 seconds before). File size is the real constraint — Bluesky's limits are far lower than TikTok's or YouTube's; VidVertex's pre-flight warns on size for Bluesky specifically, and a lighter output template for the Bluesky channel is the clean fix (templates, pre-flight).
- Images: up to 4 per post, and Bluesky enforces a strict per-image size limit — large photos fail at upload.
- Format: 9:16 and 16:9 both display inline; vertical plays full-height in the video view.
- Links are plain text with a preview card; no link penalty.
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How discovery works here
There's no single recommendation feed. Users follow accounts (the Following feed) and subscribe to custom feeds — algorithmic or curated feeds built by anyone, including a default Discover feed. Getting into feeds is the growth mechanic: topic feeds pick up posts by keywords and hashtags, community feeds by who you interact with. Starter packs (curated follow lists) and lists do the rest. Reposts and replies spread a post through follow graphs; there's no "test group" in the TikTok sense, so the stuck-at-300 logic doesn't apply — reach tracks your graph and your feeds.
Because there is no single test feed, the stuck-at-300 logic doesn't apply here. Reach tracks your follow graph and the feeds you land in.
Moderation is layered (Bluesky's own labels plus labelers users subscribe to); a post with adult or graphic content needs the right label or it gets hidden in most feeds.
Monetization, as of August 2026
- None from the platform. No ads, no revenue share, no bonuses. Bluesky sells a subscription for users, not payouts for creators.
- Links, products, newsletters, and being the account a niche follows — the owned-channel playbook (views to product).
Typical mistakes
Oversized renders are the most common failure here: the file is simply rejected at upload, and large images fail the same way under Bluesky's strict per-image limit.
- Captions over 300 characters. Cut at upload; write for the limit.
- Hashtag walls. One or two topic tags help feeds find the post; a wall reads as spam in a text-first feed.
- Expecting TikTok numbers. Bluesky's audience is small; its value is that it's specific.
- Posting without context. As on X and Threads, the line above the video is the post.
How to post it
In the app: compose, text up to 300 characters, attach a video or up to four images, add a content label if needed, post. Find and subscribe to the feeds your niche uses; they're where posts get seen.
With VidVertex: enable the Bluesky channel on the brand (brands & platforms). The video variant gets its own description (no title field); a text stack posts the words with up to four images, a carousel stack posts up to four slides. The Zernio API posts all three directly; the Metricool modes hand the media over through your Google Drive — the API mode posts it, the CSV mode writes an import file (upload modes). Stories skip Bluesky and say so (post types).