Tweet For Cash? Twitter To Allow Users To Charge Subscribers For Tweets

Social media giant Twitter announced its plans to release two new features that will resemble what is available on some other platforms. The biggest of those is giving users the ability to charge followers for access to exclusive content. Twitter will also give users the ability to create and join groups.

The pay-for-content feature aims to help content producers monetize their work through what Twitter will call “Super Follows,” according to The Verge.

The company released a screenshot of an example user charging $4.99 monthly for these followers to receive content perks not available to regular Twitter followers. The direct-payment model has been successful on Patreon. Other platforms such as YouTube and Facebook have already launched direct-pay-for-content features.

The assumption is Twitter will get a percentage of the revenue. The company has been looking for new potential revenue streams and has hinted at subscription models.

Twitter did not announce a fee structure with Thursday’s announcement.

The other new feature is Communities. Users can create and join groups based on specific mutual interests to see more content about that topic.

The model is very much like Facebook Groups. Those have been both successful and difficult to moderate. Facebook knew of calls for violence in its Groups feature in advance of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, according to a Wall Street Journal report last month. It has since enacted stricter policies and has banned some extremist accounts.

Among the banned on Facebook is former President Donald Trump, who also received a permanent ban from Twitter after spreading false claims about the election and other misinformation on the platforms. YouTube also banned Trump.

Twitter unveiled the new features during a presentation Friday for analysts and investors. There is no launch timeline, however.