Recently, Twitter has announced two big upcoming features. First is the ability for users to charge their followers so they can access additional content. Second, users will have the ability to join groups depending on specific interests. So far, these two new features are the most substantial changes to the platform in a while. In addition, they fit seamlessly into other models that have been popular and successful on other platforms.
The payment feature will be called Super Follows. It will give users the capability to charge their followers and access extra content in exchange for the payment. This extra content can be in the form of access to a community group, bonus tweets, a subscription to a newsletter, or a badge that indicates their support.
Super Follows: Twitter’s New Payment Feature
Twitter showed a sample using a mockup screenshot where a user charges $4.99 per month to receive a series of perks. The company sees it as a method to allow publishers and creators to get paid directly by their fans.
Moreover, direct payment tools have become more and more important, particularly for creators in recent years. Patreon, for instance, has been largely successful. In addition, other platforms such as YouTube, GitHub, and Facebook have all launched their own direct creator payment functionality.
It is possible that Twitter will take a cut from the money that publishers will make. This is because the micro-blogging platform has been hinting at subscription features that will provide it with a new source of revenue. Still, it has not yet announced what the said fee will be.
The idea that you need to pay someone to see their tweets may seem far-fetched. However, a spokesperson from Twitter said that this feature’s goal is to rethink the incentives of the platform’s service. Basically, the social media company is thinking that the pay-for-post feature will result in building more specific communities around particular topics.
Twitter’s Communities Feature
The social media company also announced another feature called Communities. This feature appears to be some take on something similar to Facebook Groups. It will allow users to create and join groups around particular communities. By joining those groups, they will see more tweets focused on the topics they are interested in.
According to a Twitter spokesperson, it is still challenging to connect directly with people who have the same interests in focused conversations. For this reason, the company is aiming to make it easier for users to discover, participate, and build conversations with a community of people who have the same interests.
Groups have shown huge success for Facebook. For this reason, there is a huge possibility for it to be constructive on Twitter. The reason is that its open-ended nature can make it a little challenging for new users to get started on the platform.
The More Twitter Followers, The More Money
Moreover, Twitter has not released a timeline yet for when the two new features will be launched. It only listed them as the platform’s “what’s next” during a presentation for investors and analysts. While these two features are yet to be launched, it is already a sign that the company wants to be more than just a public space for conversations. Instead, it is leaning into the micro-communities that form organically on its platform.
True enough, someone might turn to Twitter to see the latest global news. However, other people also use the site because they want to know the latest information about the users and influencers that they are following, including where they buy their Twitter followers.
The creation of Super Follows and Communities features comes as the social media platform moves to copy the other platforms’ closed-off features. At the end of 2020, Twitter launched stories similar to Snapchat called Fleets, which disappears in 24 hours and is only available to your followers.
Twitter Now Allows You to Charge For Tweets With Paid Super Follows
In addition, the company is now working on expanding its new audio-based rooms called Spaces. Such is a tool that functions very similarly to the new popular audio-based platform called Clubhouse. Apart from that, Twitter is following the footsteps of services such as Substack. To do this, it purchased Revue, a newsletter service, earlier this year. It is also working on directly integrating subscription-based newsletters through its public Twitter accounts. This might put it on the list of the top 10 sites to buy Twitter followers.
Moreover, the recent moves of the platform are also an indication that the company is hoping to add more layers to its public platform. All the new and upcoming features indicate that by the end of 2020, a user who has a particularly promising tweet will have more control over who among their followers gets to read it.
The move to making more closed-off content also means that Twitter will face challenges along the way. That includes the spread of misinformation and harmful content that can proliferate in private spaces. In fact, several people pointed out after Fleets debuted that its closed and short-lived nature will make it easier for people to spread misinformation. Another thing that is not clear yet is how adding more payment-based components can impact the popularly free platform.
Having Twitter Followers Clearly Pays
In an instance that you already have a great tweet in mind that you want to use for the pay-for-tweet feature, you may need to hold on to it for a little longer. This is because the company said that Super Follows will take some time before being finally launched.
It is still not clear what the platform will look like once Super Follows is already made available. But the sure thing is that we will see more tweets that we cannot access unless we pay their publishers. On the other hand, the Communities feature will no doubt help people find more relevant tweets that are related to their interests.