Bluesky for podcasters

An episode is a thread, a post per episode at the hour your listeners are around, and every reply answered. The Planner does the posting; the Inbox does the rest.

Updated 30 September 2026

Why podcasters are on Bluesky

Because listeners talk back here. A podcast on Bluesky gets replies to an episode, not just downloads, and the feed is in order, so the episode post reaches the people who chose to follow the show. Guests are on Bluesky too, and a guest who reposts the episode brings their followers with them.

Setting up

• The show's name as the handle, or the show's own domain: @yourshow.fm is a verified handle in itself. A second account for the host is where the Duo plan earns its keep.
• A bio with the premise in one line and the release day.
• A pinned post with the latest episode and the link page.
• The feeds for your subject, not for podcasts in general; a show about gardening belongs in the gardening feeds.

What to post

One post per episode is the floor, and it goes out at the measured best hour, not at the minute the episode drops. Then the thread: the three things you learned, one per post, with a guest quote as its own post that the guest can repost. Write the episode as one long post and the Planner splits it where you put a line of three dashes, with the tags moved to the first post where search finds the thread. From a show about running a bakery: first post, "Episode 42: why our sourdough failed for a month, with the baker who fixed it"; second, the quote; third, the moment it turned; fourth, the link.

Between episodes: a clip of the guest, as a short video (the Planner takes video on Duo and Studio); the question you will ask next week, so listeners can add theirs; the episode from a year ago that people still ask about. The Planner brings your best posts back round on its own, spaced out, 5 on Duo and 30 on Studio, so a new follower meets the back catalogue without you reposting yourself.

When to post

Listeners are around at odd hours: the commute, the dog walk, the washing up. Each of your posts' first day is counted against the hour it went out, on your own clock, so the hour that works for your audience is measured from your own posts rather than taken from a chart. Once it is measured, the episode post goes into the queue and takes that hour every week. The best time to post guide explains how the hour is found.

Hashtags and feeds

One or two on the first post: the subject, and the show's own tag so listeners can find every episode thread. Updrift's hashtag table shows which of yours beat your usual. The hashtags guide covers how feeds pick them up.

Replies, answered

A reply to an episode is a listener telling you what worked. Left for a week, it is a listener who stops replying. The Inbox holds replies, mentions, quotes and, when you allow it, direct messages, oldest unanswered first, and you answer them in place, from the show's account or the host's. A reply from someone whose profile says they may be under 18 is shown with no reply button. On Studio a producer can draft the replies and you approve them.

The show's link page

Every account gets a link page on updrift.link, free: the show on each app, the newsletter, the merch, the guest's book. Clicks are counted per link and, on a paid plan, per post, so you can see whether the episode thread or the clip sent people to listen.

Tracking free

For one account on the Free plan: followers by the hour, each post's first day, which episode post brought the most followers and who reposted it, the top line of What works, the link page with clicks per link and a recap each morning. The Inbox shows how many replies are waiting on Free; answering them in place, the measured best hours and the Planner are what a paid plan adds. Writers and journalists have pages of their own.

What a paid plan adds

• Duo, £7 a month: the show and the host as two accounts, the Planner with episode threads split properly, video, 60 posts waiting per account, tracked links per post and the Inbox answered in place.
• Studio: five accounts for a network, a season loaded from a CSV, and a producer who drafts posts and replies for your yes.
• Every paid plan is 7 days free with a card; Duo is £7 a month for two accounts and the Planner, Studio £12 for five and a team. All the plans.