Perhaps telegraphing a similar move stateside, Twitter Japan has introduced a tiered payment model that will charge audiences to view tweets from premium Twitter accounts. Twitter Japan will introduce
the paid subscription options starting in January, which will allow account holders to charge audiences who want to look at their tweets and access links to their external Web sites, Kenichi Sugi, COO
of DG Mobile -- a subsidiary of Japanese Twitter partner Digital Garage -- said at a conference earlier this week.
According to local reports, the plan will allow audiences to view some
text on all tweets but will charge a fee to unlock access to certain images, external URLs and text. Users willing to pay to view the tweets can do so via a monthly subscription or pay-per-tweet
model. Reports note that the model is ideal for account holders who deliver real-time information like news, and which include original photographs, video images and audio. Fees will likely range
between about $1 to $12, while Twitter is expected to take 30% cut of transaction fees.
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