Collectibles On SI

New Social Platform, Bluesky, a Hit With Collectors

Great news, collectors! Hobby Twitter is making a comeback. It's just not on Twitter anymore.

Jason Schwartz

Twitter owner Elon Musk at a 2024 Donald Trump campaign rally
Twitter owner Elon Musk at a 2024 Donald Trump campaign rally / Jasper Colt / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For the uninitiated, there was once an amazing locale in cyberspace known as Hobby Twitter. It was a place where collectors gathered to share their love of cardboard, somehow largely immune from the toxicity and divisiveness that plagued nearly all other corners of social media. Sure, there were times where one collector might block another over their non-Hobby posts, but such a thing is to be expected wherever large crowds gather virtually.

Today, Hobby Twitter is a far different place. Thanks to various changes put in place by owner Elon Musk, many collectors began finding their once Hobby-centric feeds dominated by porn bots, ads for fake diamonds and man pills, racist or homophobic memes, and highly partisan political content. Hobby Twitter was no longer an oasis from the worst of the internet. It was now ground zero for it.

As vintage card collector Curt Burner put it, "Twitter's hobby community was exciting and thriving. When it became X, the entire social media network became toxic, so I purposely restricted my participation there."

HitByPitchCards, a collector who also makes nifty LED card stands, echoed Curt's sentiments. "A community like the Hobby thrives because of natural interactions. When accounts started getting paid for engagement it brought down the conversation to bait and base-level discourse. X also became such a disinformation machine I couldn't square myself with being any part of it."

Jay from Cardboard, Proof, and Film cited the political nature of X since Elon took over, only amplified once he joined the Trump campaign. "I changed my social media to adapt to the Hobby and be my focus, looking to avoid politics altogether: Left, Right, Democrat, Republican, etc. I don't care about how one lives their life as long as it doesn't affect me. I'm here for baseball cards, which is what we all share a love for."

Of course, where else was there for collectors to go? Sure there were other platforms out there (Mastodon, anyone?), many of which gained prominence around the time of the Elon takeover, but the experiences of Twitter ex-pats at these other sites seemed to be lacking a certain something: a critical mass of collectors who could easily find each other. But that was then. This is now.

In the past week alone the Bluesky social app (pronounced Blue Sky, not like it rhymes with Kluszewski) has been transformed from a space where pulling a 1952 Mantle from an unopened pack might yield one or two Likes to a space where the posting of a non-sport cigarette card spawns more than 300 Likes in a single day. Where Hobby Twitter is fast becoming a dumpster fire, Card Sky, which uses the #cardsky hashtag, is catching fire in all the best ways.

Adam Korengold is one user who made the move. "What brought me to the space was a new user experience that was a welcoming space for card artists and creators. And the 'starter pack' idea is enormous. It took me from about 80 followers to more than 400 in a weekend!"

Screen capture of SABR members starter pack
The fastest way to find your people on Bluesky / Jacob Pomrenke

The 'starter pack' concept Adam refers to is a nifty features that helps users quickly find or re-grow their communities. For instance, as a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, Adam was able to tap into the SABR Member Starter Pack to instantly connect with more than 100 fellow members. Other perks of Bluesky include a scrolling experience completely free of ads and sponsored posts. (Read that again!) Blocking is far easier and more effective as well.

But speaking of SABR, another major account that recently set up shop on Bluesky is SABR Baseball Cards. As one of the admins of the account, I had found that despite more than 12,000 followers, our Tweets were seeing far less engagement than when our follower count was half that number. On top of that, many of the replies to our posts were ads or bots.

Collector and artist Mighty Lark experienced similar, adding that "So many folks that had become virtually invisible to me on Twitter have reappeared, and our interactions feel far more organic," likening the shift away from Musk's algorithms to "a sort of family reunion."

Boobie Maine also sees Bluesky as a return to a simpler and more fulfiling past. "Coming over to Bluesky feels like those early days of Twitter where everyone is getting to know one another and sharing stories and collections again." In other words, Hobby Twitter, just not on Twitter!

If you're looking to connect with the growing community of card collectors on Bluesky, the good news is it's a lot easier than it used to be. Invitations are no longer needed. In the words of JimmyBible, all you need to do is "get in here!"

While there isn't (yet!) a Trading Cards starter pack, collectors are easy to find through their frequent use of the #cardsky hashtag. Just don't be shocked if you also find yourself connecting with the occasional cardiologist from time to time! But hey, who better to know when you pull that Mantle from the 1952 Topps pack?

Cards related to heart surgery
Finding common ground is a thing again. / Jason A. Schwartz
Published |Modified
Jason Schwartz
JASON SCHWARTZ

Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.

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