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… and if not, what the heck is the business model here?

steveklabnik 3y ago
BlueSky's first revenue generation (in my understanding, I don't work there) has been a partnership with NameCheap that makes it easy for non-technical users to purchase a domain name and use it as their BlueSky username. They have been a bit vague about other ways to generate revenue, except in one case: they will not be using advertisements to monetize.
- threeseed 3y ago
  That business model is laughable. The percentage of users who care about a domain name, are willing to pay a subscription for it and don't have one already has to be in the single digits. They better have a good answer to this because it's a threat to the ecosystem as a whole if they don't. Because relying on VC money in this environment is not the smartest thing to do.
  - steveklabnik 3y ago
    I would agree that if that were "the business model" instead of "a thing that generates some revenue," it would be laughable. However, nobody, including BlueSky, believes that this is solely enough to power the business. I agree that a healthy Bluesky PBLLC is a good thing, and hope they manage to pull it off. Time will tell.
    - threeseed 3y ago
      Well hopefully they take it more seriously. Because based on them raising $8m in a seed round middle of last year they aren't going to have much time to decide and implement a strategy before they will need to start thinking about raising a Series A. Or maybe Jack does become a bigger investor. Either way I think it's insane to prematurely rule out advertising.
      - steveklabnik 3y ago
        I don't think they're not taking it seriously. I also don't believe (and again, don't work there, just a huge fan, so maybe this is wrong) I'm not sure that the revenue was the reason for shipping this feature. It's best thought of as an accessibility feature, for folks who do not know what a "DNS record" is and have never hosted a domain. Without this, more technical users get something special that non-technical users do not: a nicer username. The money is just a side effect of the fact that purchasing a domain name already requires money, and so a partnership with a revenue split just makes sense. > Either way I think it's insane to prematurely rule out advertising. I hear you in an abstract "that's the way you make money in this space" sense, but I also think it's a smart reaction to the public sentiment around this stuff. People do not like advertising. It is a differentiator. We'll see if it works out for them or not.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - layer8 3y ago
        The whole point of Bluesky is to build a social network that is not incentivized by advertising. They don’t rule it out completely, but it can’t be a major part of their revenue.
        steveklabnik 3y ago
        > They don’t rule it out completely, Well, > Are you thinking about advertisements at all? > > There will always be free options, and we can't enshittify the network with ads. This is where federation comes in. The fact that anyone can self-host and anyone can build on the software means that we'll never be able to degrade the user experience in a way where people want to leave. https://www.wired.com/story/bluesky-ceo-jay-graber-wont-enshittify-ads/ https://www.wired.com/story/bluesky-ceo-jay-graber-wont-ensh... This reads as definitive to me personally.
        layer8 3y ago
layer8 3y ago
See https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan
12345hn6789 3y ago
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BlueSky's first revenue generation (in my understanding, I don't work there) has been a partnership with NameCheap that makes it easy for non-technical users to purchase a domain name and use it as their BlueSky username. They have been a bit vague about other ways to generate revenue, except in one case: they will not be using advertisements to monetize.

threeseed 3y ago
That business model is laughable. The percentage of users who care about a domain name, are willing to pay a subscription for it and don't have one already has to be in the single digits. They better have a good answer to this because it's a threat to the ecosystem as a whole if they don't. Because relying on VC money in this environment is not the smartest thing to do.
- steveklabnik 3y ago
  I would agree that if that were "the business model" instead of "a thing that generates some revenue," it would be laughable. However, nobody, including BlueSky, believes that this is solely enough to power the business. I agree that a healthy Bluesky PBLLC is a good thing, and hope they manage to pull it off. Time will tell.
  - threeseed 3y ago
    Well hopefully they take it more seriously. Because based on them raising $8m in a seed round middle of last year they aren't going to have much time to decide and implement a strategy before they will need to start thinking about raising a Series A. Or maybe Jack does become a bigger investor. Either way I think it's insane to prematurely rule out advertising.
    - steveklabnik 3y ago
      I don't think they're not taking it seriously. I also don't believe (and again, don't work there, just a huge fan, so maybe this is wrong) I'm not sure that the revenue was the reason for shipping this feature. It's best thought of as an accessibility feature, for folks who do not know what a "DNS record" is and have never hosted a domain. Without this, more technical users get something special that non-technical users do not: a nicer username. The money is just a side effect of the fact that purchasing a domain name already requires money, and so a partnership with a revenue split just makes sense. > Either way I think it's insane to prematurely rule out advertising. I hear you in an abstract "that's the way you make money in this space" sense, but I also think it's a smart reaction to the public sentiment around this stuff. People do not like advertising. It is a differentiator. We'll see if it works out for them or not.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - layer8 3y ago
      The whole point of Bluesky is to build a social network that is not incentivized by advertising. They don’t rule it out completely, but it can’t be a major part of their revenue.
      - steveklabnik 3y ago
        > They don’t rule it out completely, Well, > Are you thinking about advertisements at all? > > There will always be free options, and we can't enshittify the network with ads. This is where federation comes in. The fact that anyone can self-host and anyone can build on the software means that we'll never be able to degrade the user experience in a way where people want to leave. https://www.wired.com/story/bluesky-ceo-jay-graber-wont-enshittify-ads/ https://www.wired.com/story/bluesky-ceo-jay-graber-wont-ensh... This reads as definitive to me personally.
        layer8 3y ago

layer8 3y ago

See https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan

12345hn6789 3y ago

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