Using a domain as your Bluesky handle

Once, Twitter was my go-to social platform. It was a hub for current events, the latest tech controversies, and a seemingly endless stream of memes. However, recent management decisions have shifted its appeal.

Now, instead of a single successor to Twitter, we're presented with a plethora of alternatives. These range from Meta's data-hungry offering known as Threads, to open-source, federated, and democratic networks—the latter being my newfound favourite. Somewhere in between lies Bluesky.

As someone consistently secures the same username across platforms, I promptly claimed @ericof.bsky.social on Bluesky. But I soon observed intriguing handles like @scalzi.com and @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com. With my Mastodon experience, I initially thought these users hosted their own instances. However, the reality is much simpler.

Step by step

First, make sure you are authenticated to your Bluesky account, then:

• Head to the Settings page
• Select "Change handle"
• Then click on "I have my own domain"
• Follow the instructions to add a new TXT entry to your domain

In under 5 minutes, I had @ericof.com up and running.

There instructions are still valid on August, 2023 but they might change in the future.