Are we back? Maybe, eh, I don’t know.

But I do know I'm back long enough to tell you the great site I told you about in February 2009. You know, Twitter…well...sad to say but it is no longer a good site for multiple reasons. I even deleted my personal account. Yeah it was that bad. I share this with you to say, if *I* deleted Twitter and I am OK, you can too.

But worry not, there is a text-based microblogging platform the hospice and palliative care community is gathering at right now!

It is fun, light, collegial. Like everyone is discovering a nice place to be online together. Perfect for tumultuous times like these. I have been here for 18 months thanks to an invite from Holly Yang. The HAPC was growing slowly, but this past weekend the whole site popped with quantity and quality. It is not just HAPC, but lots of the medical community from Twitter, along with newsmakers, entertainers, journals, medical societies, and more. 

There are great features to help you find what you are interested in. There are tools to protect you from being bombarded by hate. There are no ads (at this time). It is free. If you missed out what being on Twitter was like in the early 2010s with the community bonding, this is a great time to give Bluesky a try. Other places just don't have the juice. Threads has a broken algorithm and is dominated by brands. Not everyone wants to create visual or video content on TikTok or Instagram, so it is mostly read only. Facebook is tired. Bluesky is the place for community.

To get up to speed, check out this brief “How to Bluesky” guide I made. It is also pinned to my profile. There are community-created starter packs which help you follow accounts you care about. Anyone can make one. Here is my Hospice and Palliative Care People starter pack with 120 people who care about palliative care. Catherine Walshe, editor of Palliative Medicine, also made a great HAPC Starter pack. They may have different people so make sure to look through both of them. 

Starting this Wednesday and over the next several weeks I plan on hosting #hapc chat (aka #hpm chat, aka Tweetchat) on Wednesday nights at 6pm PT / 9p ET. Hopefully this entices you to give Bluesky a try. Bluesky is also where I will be posting about the Annual Assembly #HAPC25 in Denver next year. And maybe, you now have a reason to come back and check out your old pal, Pallimed.