Bluesky, a social networking startup and X competitor, is working on subscriptions. The company first announced plans to develop new revenue streams based on a subscription model when it detailed its $15 million Series A in October. Now, a mockup previewing the upcoming Bluesky subscription and a list of possible features have been published on Bluesky's GitHub.
The company warns on GitHub that the listing here is only a mockup of the user interface, and that paid features are very likely to change before launch, but it's important to note that at least some of these are Bluesky's premium features. There is reason to believe that it is being considered for subscription.
When discussing the subscription model last fall, Bluesky said in a blog post that it would offer premium features such as “higher quality video uploads and profile customization such as colors and avatar frames.” Both of these features are included in the user interface mockup for the subscription currently known as Bluesky+.
Additionally, placeholder text in the mockup indicates that Bluesky may be considering other paid features, such as custom app icons, Bluesky+ profile badges, inline post translations, post analytics, and bookmark folders. . These feature sets could be comparable to X.
Image credit: Bluesky's Github (credit: Bluesky's @saeri.xyz) @
Most interestingly, Bluesky+ may be considering offering authentication (profile badges) as part of the subscription, unless that feature is just a placeholder text and not an idea that Bluesky is developing. It means that there is. However, the company recently spoke about its plans for verification and how the open nature of its network could cause the system to work very differently than paid verification on the X or Meta platforms. While that may be true, it would be interesting if Bluesky decided to put the verification tool behind some sort of paywall.
The mockup also shows that Bluesky+ costs $8 per month or $72 per year, but this is also not final.
Image credit: Bluesky's Github (credit: Bluesky's @saeri.xyz) @
The user interface mockup was discovered by Bluesky user @saeri.xyz, and his post about the discovery has racked up hundreds of likes, quotes and quotes on the upstart social network, which currently has 24.7 million users. You can now see the repost.
Dan Abramov, a Bluesky software engineer who previously worked on React and Redux at Meta, said in the thread that the list of features shown in the UI mockups “doesn't necessarily correspond to what will be released.” We have replied to warn Bluesky users.
“Some of these are likely to come to fruition, but please do not take this as an actual list of planned features,” he wrote in a response to Bluesky. “We will publish the actual list once further work is completed.”
Abramov also clarified that the “coming soon” label means nothing, it's just testing the UI handling for upcoming features.
Despite the warning that nothing here is final, Bluesky users are passionately discussing the possibility of a Bluesky subscription, with some criticizing the proposed paid features and others Some people have suggested other features they would like to see.
Subscriptions aren't the only model Bluesky is considering. Bluesky CEO Jay Graber recently pointed to other initiatives the company could consider to increase revenue, including domain name sales, algorithmic marketplaces, and even the possibility of advertising sales.
Mr. Bruski has been contacted for further comment and will update this article if he responds.