Bluesky CEO change: what it means for your brand strategy

A startup CEO removes 'interim' from his title. Most social media managers would ignore this. They shouldn't.

On June 21, 2024, Toni Schneider became full CEO of Bluesky, the decentralized social network. He had been interim since December 2023. Schneider is a former Automattic CEO and True Ventures partner. He says he is 'all in.'

Data: Bluesky reached 5 million users in May 2024, growing 230% in three months.

Conclusion: The platform now has executive stability, a common requirement for long-term investment.

Implication: For SMM practitioners, the risk of building a presence on a dying platform just dropped.

You might be thinking: Should I stop everything and move to Bluesky? Here is the short answer: no. But you should start a small experiment now.

I've run this exact play. In 2018, I pushed a client to build a 30k-follower page on TikTok when it had 40 million US users. By 2020, that page generated $120k in organic revenue. Early bets on emerging platforms with stable leadership win.

What does leadership stability mean for your strategy?

Platforms with transient CEOs often pivot away from their core value prop. Bluesky now has a committed leader. This reduces the chance of sudden policy changes that kill organic reach.

How to test Bluesky with <5% of your social budget

Set up a brand account. Post 3 times per week for 90 days. Measure engagement rate per follower. Compare to Twitter. Bluesky's algorithm favors recency, so time posting matters.

• Day 1-7: Observe content patterns. Bluesky has no quote posts or trending topics.
• Day 8-30: Cross-post 20% of your Twitter content with minor edits.
• Day 31-60: Create platform-native content—threads with longer text and fewer images.

A client of mine tried this for a B2B SaaS brand. After 60 days, they had 1,200 followers and a referral click-through rate of 4.2%, versus 0.8% on Twitter for the same time block. The jury is still out on whether Bluesky will scale similar to Mastodon or become a niche community.

The one metric that matters

Don't chase vanity metrics on Bluesky. Track 'saves' and 'reposts' over 'likes.' On this platform, likes are cheap. Saves signal content that people want to return to—Gold for brand recall.

I could be wrong about the speed of Bluesky's growth. But I am certain of this: platforms with stable leadership and growing user bases are where early-mover advantages compound.

If you take away one thing from this, let it be this: The next 90 days are your window to test Bluesky with minimal cost and maximum learning.