Twitter is a social media platform that has evolved considerably since its invention. We’re a long way away from simply texting things that are 140 characters long at this point in the platform’s existence. Now there are voice messages, and basically everything except an edit button because that would undo a significant fundamental of the microblogging platform in the first place.
Anyway, users will apparently get the chance to monetize their Good Tweets by putting them behind a paywall with a new feature called Super Follows.
Twitter announces “Super Follow”, like Patreon but on Twitter https://t.co/5YBmEfgsUn pic.twitter.com/aY9g1ozoJz
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 25, 2021
Essentially, the program would allow users to make certain tweets only available to those that pay to see it. It could be a good joke, or some added context to something the rest of Twitter gets to see. It’s really up to whomever decides they deserve to be super followed.
The news came out of Twitter’s Virtual Analyst Day, which showed off what’s next for the platform. The inevitable comparisons to OnlyFans and Patreon were made pretty much right away. And monetization directly through Twitter could be a huge opportunity for revenue, both for the people tweeting and the company itself. but to say that people reacted to the news with skepticism would be a very big understatement.
I don’t know why this made me laugh so hard but it did. https://t.co/00pZSXUZQ1
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) February 25, 2021
I'm in favor of letting Twitter users charge for their content because I'm hoping it'll lead to me seeing fewer tweets.
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) February 25, 2021
Going to implement a reverse Twitter paywall. If you pay me, I will stop tweeting. https://t.co/jTSCmeatty
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) February 25, 2021
Twitter also announced on Thursday that it’s starting Communities, which is sort of like Facebook groups. Sort of.
Twitter announces Communities, like Facebook Groups but on Twitter
(they’ve started working on it in the web app since at least few weeks ago) https://t.co/5YBmEfgsUn pic.twitter.com/JlkrZNjLBo
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 25, 2021
That announcement seems aimed at keeping people on Twitter to talk to their friends rather than chat in a Slack channel while bringing all the bad Tweets in there to laugh at. We’ll have to wait and see if tweets sent to Super Follows will be viewed in there or not.
[via The Verge]
Source: https://uproxx.com/viral/twitter-super-follows-paid-tweets-reaction/