The next era of social media may not be defined by a platform, but rather could be written by a protocol. That is the bet that Bluesky makes, and at least TechCrunch disrupts 2026two of its leaders who direct that bet will present their case in person.
Toni Schneider became Bluesky’s permanent CEO after leading the company on an interim basis since March. He’s joined by COO Rose Wang, who has been with the company since 2021, for a Disrupt Stage session on whether social media can start over and where Bluesky fits into that potential reboot.
For founders creating consumer products, the stakes couldn’t be higher. If social media is entering a new era, it creates opportunities for entirely new products, business models and communities to emerge.
This discussion, among many others, as well as a host of networking opportunities and front-row access to the Startup Battlefield competition, can be seen. only in San Francisco from October 13 to 15 at Moscone West. And no matter your role within the startup community, we have an input option to match. Act quickly before prices rise later this month!
Why this moment is important for Bluesky and the social web
Bluesky, along with many of the platforms that resurfaced or They were established following the transformation of Twitter into Xis in a moment of transition. As incumbents have entrenched themselves, Bluesky and similar platforms remain a test of whether networks built on open protocols can retain communities and potentially take market share from competitors.
To that end, Bluesky’s founding CEO, Jay Graber, recently became chief innovation officer.saying Bluesky needed “an experienced operator focused on scaling and execution.” Enter Schneider, who assumed full-time CEO duties after a four-month interim period.
“We are at the beginning of this story, with a decade of exciting work ahead of us to build an open network that reflects all the richness of how people connect, communicate and build livelihoods together.” he wrote in his announcement post.. In Disrupt we will see how the first steps towards that decade progress.
Rose’s perspective, based on having been at Bluesky since late 2021, along with a previous role as a customer experience leader at Forethought AI, is that focusing on users is part of that rebuild.
He stated at London’s SXSW earlier this year that there is a growing need for human-to-human connection to return after a flood of AI-filled streams. And that change in user needs gives Bluesky an opportunity. “Facebook and Twitter are huge and have tons of users, so for them to pivot is really difficult. Plus, they’re basically AI companies right now.” rose said.
Hearing that level of candor in person and joining the 10,000+ founders, investors, and technologists at Disrupt 2026 from October 13 to 15, Buy your ticket today and be sure to get the best price available.
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