Bluesky continues its steady growth, nearing 25 million users—a significant milestone for the social media platform. However, despite its expanding user base, the company faces a pressing challenge: generating revenue to sustain and scale its operations. A potential solution? Subscriptions.
Bluesky+ and subscriptions. Bluesky is reportedly developing a subscription service called Bluesky+, according to TechCrunch. The company hinted at this model during its October funding round and recently shared preliminary designs for the service on its GitHub repository. These early drafts, spotted by a user named Rea, outline the features Bluesky+ might offer.
Features for subscribers. The subscription plan would provide users with:
- A subscriber badge, similar to X’s verification icons.
- Advanced profile customization.
- Increased video upload limits in terms of quantity and resolution.
- Future features like post statistics, bookmark folders, and automatic post translation.
Still a work in progress. One of Bluesky’s designers noted that the feature list remains subject to change. However, the initial sketches offer a glimpse of what paying users might receive.
No revenue sharing. Unlike X, Bluesky has no plans to share subscription revenues with creators. On X, revenue sharing has spurred the rise of content creators who generate high-engagement posts to maximize their earnings. Bluesky seems uninterested in adopting a similar model at this time.
Paid verification? Currently, Bluesky’s only verification method is domain-based: Users link their accounts to domains they own, such as associating @nytimes.com with the nytimes.com website. Bluesky officials have mentioned developing an ecosystem of third-party “verification companies” to authenticate users. Whether this service will tie into Bluesky+ remains unclear, but it could serve as a competitive edge against X.
Subscription pricing. The proposed subscription cost is $8 per month or $72 per year. While some may consider this steep given Bluesky’s smaller user base and limited content compared to X, the platform’s ad-free experience and minimal “noise” may justify the price for certain users.
Advertising: A future option? Advertising, once dismissed by Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, may now be on the table. Earlier this year, Graber expressed opposition to ad-based revenue models, citing concerns about compatibility with Bluesky’s decentralized and open-source ethos. However, at a recent event in San Francisco, Graber signaled openness to ads that align with these principles.
Image | Yohan Marion (Unsplash)
Related | A 33-Year-Old CEO and Only 20 Full-Time Employees: This Is the Tiny Bluesky Team That’s Taking On X
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