Leaving an Impression

Big news! We’ve refined how we estimate impressions and introduced a new metric to help understand post engagement. Here’s what’s new:

Estimated Impressions: We’ve adjusted our impression estimates to be more accurate and conservative (reasons explained).
Engagement Rate: We’ve added a new metric to help you better gauge post performance.

Want the quick version? Check out the TL;DR at the bottom!

Why Impressions Are a Big Deal 📈

Views and impressions are critical pieces of information for content creators. Bluesky doesn’t officially provide this data and likely won’t. There are strong arguments for and against this case.

For: Impressions help creators gauge potential reach and visibility, offering a broader sense of content performance.
Against: It can be a difficult metric to capture (especially due to Bluesky’s open network) and is arguably not as helpful as other performance metrics for understanding your content and audience.

So why estimate? Other platforms like Twitter and Instagram make impressions a staple metric, and while Bluesky takes a different approach, understanding your post’s reach can still provide valuable context.

If your post gets 100 likes, estimated impressions provides an idea on many times your post was likely seen (as users do not interact with all content they view).

How We’re Crunching the Numbers 🔢

Behind the scenes, we’re using large datasets and tricky maths to refine our estimates. Here’s how it works:

Data-Driven Models: Using public data from other very similar, popular social media platforms, we trained a model that correlate likes, comments, and shares with impressions.
Bluesky is Built Different: Bluesky is reported to have a smaller but more highly engaged community, meaning impressions look different here. Users can also be subscribed to any number of feeds, all of which operate in completely unique ways – by design.
Conservative Estimates: We take a cautious approach, showing the lower band of what likely impressions are (we’d rather go over than under).

In short: we’ve updated the formula used to estimate impressions based on live data, specific knowledge of Bluesky and a conservative estimate to show the lower end of what impressions likely are.

Keep in mind that engagement patterns also vary widely by post, timing, and audience. While we aim for accuracy at a macro level, actual impressions per posts likely vary by quite a margin. Our goal is to create an educational metric to provide fuller context on post performance.

Don’t Lie! 🚫

Be honest with your engagement. Liking or sharing your own posts from extra accounts will inflate impression estimates, but it won’t reflect real-world impact.

Updating Estimates 🔄

We’re committed to evolving estimates as new data becomes available:

Official Numbers: If Bluesky releases official impressions or reach metrics, we’ll incorporate them.
More Data: More datasets, especially Bluesky-specific ones, will refine our models for even better accuracy.
Algorithm Insights: Greater transparency around how various algorithms, and the popularity of these algorithms, could provide assistance in creating a more accurate model.

A New Metric Emerges 🌟

We’ve added Engagement Rate – a more actionable way to measure how your audience responds to your content.

Formula: Total engagement ÷ follower count. Follower count is taken at the time of posting or the closest known date.

Example: If you have 500 followers and a post gets 50 total engagements (likes + comments + reposts + quotes), your engagement rate is 10%.

This metric focuses on audience interaction, offering a practical tool to assess performance relative to your following.

Future Plans 🚀

What we want to focus on:

Breakdowns by Audience: Understanding content reach for followers vs non-followers.
Timing Insights: Discover the best times to post for maximum impact.
Consistency Metrics: Analyze how regular posting influences engagement.
Sentiment Analysis: Dive deeper into the quality and tone of engagement.

TL;DR 📝

New Updates: We’ve refined impression estimates and introduced engagement rate as a key metric.
Balanced Focus: Use impressions as a guide, but prioritize engagement and quality.
Continuous Improvement: Expect more updates, breakdowns, and tools.