Bluesky wants to make it easier to buy, sell, and fundraise on the network
The executives argued that advertising isn’t the only path to monetization, and that there are alternative models that are feasible when it comes to monetization.
Key points
- Bluesky plans to launch payments in the coming months as a first monetization step.
- CEO Toni Schneider and COO Rose Wang announced the plan Thursday at TechCrunch Disrupt.
- The company aims to earn money without relying on advertising.
Bluesky plans to introduce payments in the coming months, the first step in a strategy to make money without relying on advertising. CEO Toni Schneider and COO Rose Wang outlined the plans Thursday at TechCrunch Disrupt, saying the company wants to build on commerce and fundraising already happening on its decentralized social network.
Schneider, the former CEO of Automattic, took over in March after longtime CEO Jay Graber stepped down. He said onstage that he was surprised by the reaction to his appointment, with some users joking it marked the beginning of the end for the platform, reflecting fears that a leadership change would bring unwanted changes.
How payments would work
Schneider said people are already selling things and fundraising successfully on the network. He said Bluesky wants to make that easier by letting users support something they like monetarily, in a way that works for Bluesky and other apps across the entire network.
Wang said the effort is about disrupting the infrastructure layer rather than building another app. She said the company will start with payments.
People are actually selling things, fundraising very successfully, supporting each other on the network. We want to make that easier
— Toni Schneider
Why not advertising
The executives argued that advertising is not the only viable business model for a social network. Wang said there is a story that advertising is inevitable and will ruin the network, and pointed to Schneider's work at WordPress Automattic, which she described as a $10 billion business where a billion goes back to the parent company and the rest goes to the ecosystem.
Wang also cited Bluesky's status as a Public Benefit Corporation, which she said puts the company's mission at the center of its business strategy. She said the company cannot lock people in because of its infrastructure, and that people creating value on networks should get the money coming in.
