Social networking startup and X competitor Bluesky is working on subscriptions. The company first announced plans to develop a new revenue stream based on the subscription model when detailing its $15 million Series A back in October. Now, mockups teasing the upcoming Bluesky subscription, along with a list of possible features, have been published to Bluesky’s GitHub.
Honestly, this doesn't bother me at all. The list of features they will provide to premium users sound like good premium features for content creators and companies, and doesn't affect the lives of simple content consumers. I think it's great they are trying to find revenue streams to stay alive.
Asking users for money isn't entshitification. Running a website isn't free. But if they are already asking for venture capital, now that's scary. Losing control of your vision to investors, that's what causes entshitification.
Yea this seems like the best way to support the site tbh. Let people who can afford it pay for running costs in exchange for benefits that don't negatively affect free users. Much better than being beholden to people who have no interest in you providing a good service.
That's why I initially thought twitter charging for blue checks was a good idea, because I thought they'd still be validating people's identities.