Bluesky is growing in popularity. The social media platform recently surpassed 20 million users. According to Similarweb data, the platform gained 5 million new users in less than a week, climbing from 15 million. 

In the last three months, Bluesky has tripled its user base, growing from 9 million users in September. Some days have seen over a million new signups within 24 hours. The platform has become a rival to X and Threads but is still behind them in active users. 

Bluesky will maintain an ad-free model 

Despite its surge, the company has said it is not looking to introduce ads to the platform. Bluesky’s ad-free model has been a key part of its appeal. 

CEO Jay Graber has previously noted that the platform will not compromise user experience for revenue. “We can't enshittify the network with ads,” Graber said in an interview with Wired earlier this year. Speaking with CNBC, Graber also said the app is "not going to build an algorithm that just shoves ads at you, locking users in. That's not our model." 

Bluesky’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang has also emphasized that the company is focused on growing its user popularity and providing quality service. "The brands will come," Wang said, but they will "have to figure out how to talk to people authentically."

However, Bluesky hasn’t ruled out introducing ads in the future. Wang suggested that if Bluesky explores advertising, it would adopt non-intrusive approaches. “If we ever were to do ads, it would look a lot more like how ads work on the web, where it’s intent-based,” she explained. Wang also suggested community-based or creator-focused ad strategies, pointing to Reddit and TikTok as examples.

How Bluesky will generate revenue compared to competitors

Bluesky has decided to stay ad-free by relying on funding from investors. In October, the company said it would focus on subscription-based services such as profile customizations to generate revenue. The app also offers paid services like domain sales. 

Its competitor, X gets its revenue from advertisements on the platform. Threads is also reportedly planning to introduce ads in January. 

According to Wang, Bluesky is considering building a payments platform in the longer term, enabling user-to-user transactions with a small fee. 

Major brands including Duolingo, Hulu, and Netflix have built their presence on the platform but the platform says it is focusing on growth and providing an ad-free experience.

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