Since the decline of Twitter, the social media landscape has become much more fragmented. While I have been happily active in the Fediverse for several years and plan on keeping it like that, I still have an eye on developments at Bluesky and Thread. I focus on new ways the cool kids post updates, newsletters, and podcast episodes these days.
To facilitate posting on Bluesky, Daniel Post has developed a small experimental plugin called Autoblue.
Currently, the plugin is only available in an alpha version. On the plugin’s website, Daniel lists several known bugs. But despite this, and even in this early version, it is already possible to share new content directly from the block editor.
Autoblue aims to integrate Bluesky into WordPress. In addition to sharing content, it is planned to display likes and replies from the social network in WordPress in a future version. It will be interesting to see how this interacts with Webmentions, which have served a similar purpose in the Fediverse for years.
Setup
So far, the plugin is not available on WordPress.org. However, it can be downloaded and installed directly from Daniel’s Autoblue website. After installation and activation, the plugin requires a connection to a Bluesky account.
Users must enter their username and an application password to set it up, which can be generated in the Bluesky app. Once connected, the plugin adds a dedicated panel to the block editors sidebar.
Using the plugin
When publishing new posts, users can trigger a Bluesky post directly. Daniel has planned a range of additional features for the future. Will this sharing function eventually be available for content written using the Classic Editor? I wouldn’t be sure if this extra integration will be worth the effort.
Limitations
Daniel’s approach to developing the plugin primarily out in the open is commendable. Yet, one limitation I noticed during my experiments is that the plugin currently only works for posts. On pages or custom post types, Autoblue does not load correctly. Keep this in mind if that’s relevant to your specific use case. Nonetheless, the current state is impressive for an alpha version.
Autoblue is currently only available on autoblue.cc. According to Daniel, a paid version with additional features is planned for the future.