Twitter To Launch Feature That Lets Publishers Charge For Content

Twitter users who attract a following will soon profit by it. The company is launching a feature through which they can charge for exclusive content.  

The social-media giant announced a service called Super Follows during its #TWTRAnalystDay event on Thursday. Now in test mode, Super Follows could be available later this year.  

The goal is to provide “monetary incentive models for Creators and Publishers to be directly supported by their audience,” according to a presentation by Kayvon Beykpour, product lead, and Dantley Davis, head of design and research for Twitter.  

In one user case, a publisher might sa:, “Super Follow Regina Lennox to show your support.” 

Regina Lennox fans could choose to pay for a supporter badge, subscriber-only newsletters, exclusive content, deals and discounts and community access. 

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Exclusive content could be offered this way: Got an EXCLUSIVE sneak peak for all of my beautiful #SuperFollowers! Check out this trailer before anyone else.” 

Twitter believes “an audience-funded model, where subscribers can directly fund the content they value most, is a durable incentive model that aligns the interests of creators and consumers,” said Dantley Davis, head of design and research  

This is supported by the company's recent acquisition of the newsletter service Revue. Twitter acquired Revue to “enable writers to publish paid or free newsletters to their audience,” Davis continued. 

It was not clear how account subscriptions would work, but Bloomberg wrote: “Presumably, Twitter would take a cut of the subscription fee.” 

Super Follows was announced during a day in which CEO Jack Dorsey outlined a revenue goal of $7.5 billion for 2023. He also ruefully explored “why folks don’t believe in us. It comes down to three critiques: we’re slow, we’re not innovative and we’re not trusted.” 

He then outlined these goals:  

“First, we plan to double our development velocity by the end of 2023, resulting in doubling the number of features per employee that directly drive either mDAU (monetizable daily active users) or revenue.  

“Second, we have a goal of at least 315 million mDAU in the fourth quarter of 2023, which requires continued compounding growth at about 20% per year from the base of 152 million mDAU we reported in the fourth quarter of 2019.” 

In addition, Twitter is working on “creating a product experience that makes it easier for people to form, discover and participate in these micro-communities,” said Beykpour. “An experience that enables creators to customize these spaces, including setting and enforcing social norms above and beyond our Terms of Service.”  

 

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