Bluesky plans to introduce payments in the coming months, a first step in its strategy to make money without relying on advertising. CEO Toni Schneider and COO Rose Wang outlined the plans Thursday at TechCrunch Disrupt, explaining how the company hopes to build on the commerce and fundraising activity already happening on its decentralized social network.
“People are actually selling things, fundraising very successfully, supporting each other on the network,” Schneider said. “We want to make that easier, and the way we’re going to do this is if you see something on the network that you like and support, you can support that monetarily, and we want to do it in a way that works for Bluesky and for all the other apps out there as well, so that it works across the entire network.”
Schneider, the former CEO of Automattic, took the reins of the company in March after longtime CEO Jay Graber stepped down. He said, while onstage, that he was surprised by the reaction to his appointment, with some users joking that it marked the beginning of the end for the platform. Those comments reflected fears that a leadership change would bring unwanted changes to Bluesky.
Schneider said he understands that users can leave Bluesky for another platform if the company introduces features or changes they dislike, a reality that he said keeps the leadership team accountable as it prepares to introduce monetization in the coming months.
The executives argued that advertising isn’t the only viable business model for a social network.
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