Revue, the email newsletter service acquired by Twitter in January, has debuted a subscribe button that will allow writers and publishers to offer newsletter
subscriptions to their Twitter audiences — at least for some users.
“It’s here,” Revue says of
the feature it promised in June.
“Today, we’re starting to test a feature that allows people to subscribe to your Revue newsletter directly from your Twitter
profile,” the tweet continues. “It's available to all Revue creators immediately. To start though, your newsletters will show only for a test group on Twitter.”
That
includes Android users, with iOS to follow.
The button resides under a call to action that says “Subscribe.” Readers will be sent an email asking them to confirm their
subscriptions. It was not clear if the tool allows publishers to charge for their newsletters.
Techcrunch observes that, until now, Revue’s integration into
Twitter has been minimal.
“We’re currently building new ways to grow your newsletter audience, and we want to preview one that will live right on your Twitter
profile,” Revue said in June. “We want to give writers tools to turn their growing engaged Twitter audience into newsletter subscribers. This will be available for Revue
newsletters soon, so stay tuned.”
Twitter also promised earlier this year it would pursue “an audience-funded model, where subscribers can directly fund the content they
value most,” said Dantley Davis, head of design and research during a Twitter event.
Twitter acquired Revue to “enable writers to publish paid or free
newsletters to their audience,” Davis said.
The company announced a program called Super Follows that allows publishers and writers to charge for various content forms,
including newsletters. Twitter/Revue will take 5%.
Also in June, Facebook launched Bulletin, a service that allows writers to self-publish their work and includes
a tool to allow them to charge for newsletter subscriptions and website content.