Bluesky raised $8 million in funding and announced its first paid service

Social network Bluesky has announced $8 million in funding and its first paid service, says TechCrunch.

The funds raised will be used to expand the Bluesky team, manage operational and infrastructure costs, and develop the AT Protocol (a protocol for creating decentralized social networks), on which the Bluesky application runs.

Once funded, Bluesky also commits to finding a way to make a profit. The company will experiment with different strategies and services to see what provides real value to users.

Bluesky explained that social media companies have traditionally relied on advertising to stay free to users, but in such cases, “users become the product.” Bluesky’s goal is to find another way to support its network, starting with paid services.

The first such service will be custom domains offered in partnership with domain registrar Namecheap. Users will be able to choose a domain name of their choice and then link it to their Bluesky account.

The company hasn’t disclosed the terms of its partnership with Namecheap, but it’s likely to be a revenue-sharing deal from domain name purchases.

We will remind that Bluesky is inspired by the former general director and founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey. After Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October, Dorsey announced that he intended to focus on the new social network.