Educators are connecting and sharing resources with each other on a new social media platform: , an alternative to X (formerly Twitter).
Many educators relied on Twitter for years to connect with peers and build professional learning networks, as well as to get ideas about curriculum, assessments, and teaching approaches. But the platform has been on a down slope in recent years, critics say.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk took over the company in 2022 and has enacted changes that he said would bolster free speech on the social media platform. Instead, critics argue that Musk has broken Twitter, saying it鈥檚 no longer the online town square鈥攖he place to go to share ideas and discuss current events鈥攂ecause there are more bots and less content moderation leading to bigotry and more misinformation.
鈥淭witter used to be the place. It was easily the educators鈥� community,鈥� said Eric Curts, a technology-integration specialist for the Stark-Portage Area Computer Consortium, which serves school districts in northeast Ohio. 鈥淎fter Twitter made so many changes, and a lot of educators left at that point, I started to wonder: Are we ever going to have that again? Will there no longer be a water cooler that we can all gather around and have these conversations?鈥�
To try to fill that void, many educators are now experimenting with Bluesky for building and maintaining their professional learning networks. Though it might be too early to tell whether Bluesky will be the new go-to social media site for the education community, the numbers are rising. At least 2,700 educators had signed up for the app as of Dec. 17, according to .
Justin Cerenzia, the executive director of The Episcopal Academy鈥檚 Center for Teaching and Learning in Newtown Square, Pa., said he started a Bluesky account about a year ago, because Twitter 鈥渨as losing its luster.鈥� So far, the 鈥渆nergy and momentum鈥� of Bluesky feels a lot like 鈥� the halcyon days of Twitter,鈥� he said.
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky, which began as an internal project by then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has been around since 2019 but was invitation-only until February 2024. Since then, its user base鈥斺�攈as grown exponentially. In the last month alone, fueled by an exodus of users from X after the presidential election, more than 12 million users joined Bluesky, according to . (Bluesky is no longer associated with Twitter; it鈥檚 an independent public benefit corporation.)
The platform looks a lot like Twitter, but some educators describe it as a cleaner version.
Users鈥� feeds only show posts from people they follow, from newest to oldest posts. There鈥檚 a 鈥淒iscover鈥� feed, which Bluesky says is customized for what the user likes to see, while still giving them a view into what鈥檚 trending in the network. Users can also create their own custom feeds or follow feeds curated by other users. For instance, a Bluesky user created a feed called so other users can follow conversations related to education and teaching.
Bluesky has features that other social media apps don鈥檛 have that educators say have been helpful in building or rebuilding their networks.
The 鈥渟tarter pack鈥� is one example: A user can create a list of feeds and people to follow and share that with their network. For instance, Curts created a of people who are attending the Future of Education Technology Conference in January so they can all connect beforehand.
鈥淸Starter packs] just make it so easy to get started in the system,鈥� Curts said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the toughest things鈥攜ou come to a new place, you鈥檙e like, OK, how do I connect with people? That has really helped a lot.鈥�
In the future, educators said they鈥檇 like to see other key features to enhance their experience, such as the edit button (to revise or correct posts) and a way to schedule posts.
How educators are using Bluesky
Curts, who was part of the invite-only crowd on Bluesky, has had an account on the social media site for more than a year. In the beginning, he said, it was not an active site for educators. But he said more educators have been jumping on board in recent months.
鈥淭here鈥檚 enough people there that we鈥檙e seeing that critical mass,鈥� Curts said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing educators being very active.鈥�
For Curts, one measure of that is the resurfacing of conversations that are similar to Twitter chats on Bluesky, he said. Back when there was more educator engagement on Twitter, there would be weekly chats on different topics that educators could participate in.
鈥淭hose have now started resurfacing on Bluesky,鈥� Curts said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 sort of the litmus test that indicates educators are here now. People are showing up and they鈥檙e chatting, they鈥檙e connecting, and that鈥檚 fantastic.鈥�
Cerenzia said it鈥檚 nice to have another place to connect with researchers, teachers, and other people who work in education to learn new things he can integrate into his work in the classroom.
Zachary Flower, who just started teaching computer science this school year for Warren Tech in Lakewood, Colo. after leaving the tech industry, said he鈥檚 looking forward to maintaining his industry connections on Bluesky.
鈥淭he biggest challenge鈥� for career and technical educators is 鈥渕aintaining those connections with industry,鈥� said Flower, a former software engineer. 鈥淚 realized I need to continue to build whatever platform I can to find opportunities for my students.鈥�
Flower also wants to use Bluesky to connect with other computer science educators to learn from them.
鈥淚鈥檓 comfortable with the technical part. I鈥檓 comfortable with the career part,鈥� he said. 鈥淭eaching is very new, so I鈥檓 trying to kind of connect with as many computer science educators as I can to learn.鈥�
Will educators ever get the Twitter 2.0 they鈥檙e nostalgic for?
Many educators have been looking for X alternatives to build professional learning networks and connect with other educators. A handful of alternatives, such as and Threads, have cropped up in recent years, but none of them has captured nearly as much attention as Twitter, educators said.
Educators who are trying Bluesky say it feels a lot like Twitter in the early days: supportive, authentic, with a lot of ideas and resources being exchanged. (Some felt the same way when Meta released its Twitter alternative, Threads, but now more than a year since it launched, educators say the platform never really took off with their professional learning networks.)
Jeffrey Carpenter, a professor of education at Elon University who studies educators鈥� use of social media, says he鈥檚 seen a lot of 鈥渘ostalgia for that time鈥� when Twitter was the main place for the K-12 community to gather. But he says he鈥檚 not sure that will be 鈥渞ecreated鈥� in any of the platforms that have cropped up.
鈥淧eople just don鈥檛 use one platform anymore,鈥� Carpenter said.
In fact, Curts, Cerenzia, and a lot of educators are still cross-posting鈥攑osting the same things鈥攐n all their social media accounts to reach as many of their networks as possible.
It鈥檚 not necessarily a bad thing that there won鈥檛 be just one space for educators to gather, Carpenter said.
鈥淭here are a lot of niches in education,鈥� he said.
Now, teachers use different platforms for different purposes. They might belong to a private Facebook group and also post on a more public social media account, whether that鈥檚 TikTok or Instagram or Bluesky; they might have a space they go to that is specific to the content or grade level they teach, and then another space for broader education conversations.
It鈥檚 also possible that teachers are now more hesitant to go all in on one platform because of what happened with X, Carpenter said. It took a lot of time to build up the professional learning networks they had there, and they might not think it鈥檚 worth it to reestablish that on a platform that may or may not work out.
Curts said he hopes educators eventually pick Bluesky as their go-to social media app. That鈥檚 where he 鈥渃amps out,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 getting good connections with people and having good conversations there.鈥�
But if Bluesky doesn鈥檛 work out, Curts has created an email distribution list with his professional learning network so that he doesn鈥檛 have to worry about losing what he鈥檚 spent years building.
鈥淲hat if another social media place that I invest heavily in disappears? I want an easy way that I can always communicate with people who care about what I鈥檓 doing,鈥� he said.
