Premium

Bluesky teases subscription model with premium features including profile badges

Bluesky first announced plans on introducing a subscription model as a new revenue stream in October.

I joined Bluesky in 2021, when it was just setting itself up as a scrappy little startup that was going to challenge the centralised Big Tech companies which trap us into a Stockholm Syndrome.

Bluesky was founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019. (File photo)

Bluesky, a competitor to Elon Musk’s X, is working on offering paid features to users as part of a subscription package. The social networking startup recently published a user interface mockup of its subscription service called Bluesky+ on its GitHub page.

Based on the mockup, a Bluesky+ subscription will cost users $8 per month or $72 every year. However, these prices are not final. Dan Abramov, a software engineer at the company, cautioned users that the list of features seen in the UI mockup are tentative as well. “Some of these are likely to make it, but please don’t take this as an actual list of planned features […] We’ll announce the actual list when more work is done,” he said in response to a Bluesky post.

Bluesky, founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019, had announced plans on implementing a subscription model to serve as a new revenue stream in October this year. That same month, the decentralised social media app closed its Series A funding round at $15 million in addition to the $8 million seed capital received last year.

Story continues below this ad

Paid verification on the cards?

Currently, users who sign up on Bluesky are required to verify their email addresses as part of the platform’s security controls. In order to address concerns around impersonation, the platform updated its policy last month to state that “impersonation and handle-squatting accounts will be removed.”

Since Bluesky currently lacks ‘blue ticks’ or profile badges, it relies on domain handles to serve as a form of verification for high-profile individuals and organisations. “For instance, US senators self-verify with http://senate.gov, freelance journalists can use their own website, friends can use subdomains on the same domain, and more,” Bluesky said.

However, the process for a user to set their own website as their username and verify their Bluesky account involves a few complicated steps. But based on the UI mockup interface, Bluesky could be considering offering profile badges as part of its subscription service.

Also Read | Bluesky demystified: Your quick guide to the X alternative

With Bluesky+, users could also get access to a host of premium features such as “higher quality video uploads or profile customisations like colours and avatar frames.” Custom app icons, a Bluesky+ profile badge, inline post translations, post analytics, and bookmark folders, are some other paid features that are reportedly under consideration.