Bluesky executives say people use the social network for commerce and fundraising, and planned payment features are meant to make such activity easier as the company seeks revenue beyond advertising.
Toni Schneider, Bluesky's chief executive, and Rose Wang, its chief operating officer, discussed the proposal Thursday. Schneider cited sales, fundraising and mutual aid as activities already taking place on Bluesky. The tools are intended to let that support extend between Bluesky and other applications built on the same network.
Schneider said users can move to another platform if they object to company changes. He described that option as a way to keep Bluesky's leadership accountable as it begins monetizing. Wang said the network's infrastructure limits the company's ability to lock users into its service.
Wang characterized payments as an early move toward changing the underlying network infrastructure, rather than adding only another app. Bluesky plans to introduce the payment features in the coming months.
