• by Ray Schultz , March 4, 2021

Email experts are mulling the potential effect of Twitter’s forthcoming service: Super Follows. Expected to be ready later this year, Super Follows would allow publishers to charge for various content forms, including email newsletter subscriptions. 

This would be supported by the firm’s recent acquisition of the newsletter service Revue.

Twitter acquired Revue to “enable writers to publish paid or free newsletters to their audience,” said Dantley Davis, head of design and research at Twitter, during the firm’s #TWTRAnalystDay event last week. 

Exactly how Super Follows would work -- and where the subscriber lists would reside -- have not yet been revealed. And marketers may wonder if Super Follows could lead to market glut. 

But one source sees Super Follows as no more than a move to support old-fashioned email marketing. 

“By offering a subscription-based option with Super Follows, Twitter is leaning into a concept that seasoned email marketers have known for years—consumers want great content, and they’re willing to go the extra mile to ensure they get it,” says Patrick Gillooly, marketing director at Constant Contact.

Social media networks have long been adept at enabling users to share content with each other. The challenge for brands is  personalizing that experience for the user when the network is designed to appeal to everyone, notes. 

“There’s no way for them to curate a unique and branded experience when sending a Tweet or making a post, and that’s often the piece that users remember most,” he says.   

In contrast, email marketing has always been the best and most effective way for brands to not only engage their customers on a 1:1 basis, but also to deliver the type of experience they want to be known for,” Gillooly continues. 

Consumers “expect that level of personalization from businesses, and they want a consistent experience regardless of where they are spending their time -- even if it means paying more for it.” 

Gillooly concludes: “It’s not a surprise that Twitter recognizes this and came up with a way to provide its users with a way to opt-into a similar experience on their platform.”

For its part, Twitter hopes 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.