twitter Subscription mania: Twitter exploring the usage of subscriptions

[Master Delta Chief]

Summary

The subscription mania has been a thing for quite some time now with companies introducing all kinds of services with notable examples like Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass for games and Netflix as one of the frontrunners of the streaming services. Now, with Twitter seeing a little less income than a year before due to advertising boycotts and other possible factors, they are looking for more ways to gain more money. Recently when CEO Jack Dorsey was talking to investors, he said that Twitter was exploring additional ways to make more money from it’s users which includes the consideration of a subscription model. Dorsey did mention that tests are likely to happen this year of various approaches.

 

Quote CNN: 

Quote

"You will likely see some tests this year" of various approaches, Dorsey told analysts on an investor call held to discuss the company's second quarter earnings results. Dorsey said he has "a really high bar for when we would ask consumers to pay for aspects of Twitter," but confirmed that the company is seeking to diversify its sources of revenue in what are "very, very early phases of exploring."

 

Quote Windows Central: 

Quote

Twitter was one of many social media platforms hit by advertising boycotts during protests last month, noting that ad revenue fell 15% in the last three weeks of June alone. Twitter was rocked last week by a major security breach on its platform. Seemingly, hackers paid off Twitter employees to give them access to various accounts, using some high profile accounts to advertise a Bitcoin scam. According to Twitter, at least one elected official had their DMs accessed during the breach.

 

Personal opinion: It’s not new seeing more corporations looking for subscription methods to implement which tend to look more lucrative for some people, however I should mention that it does look worrying that a lot of companies are looking for these kinds of payment options, especially on large social media networks. Whether if this actually gets implemented, it's uncertain if it will be for existing features or for new ones. Time will tell eventually. 

 

Sources

https://www.windowscentral.com/twitter-exploring-subscription-option-improve-revenue-streams

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/23/tech/twitter-subscription-earnings/index.html

[Arika]

calling it now.

you will need a subscription to

1. send DMs to anyone.
2. get a new badge that will replace the "verified tick"
3. unlimited retweets (because they would be restricted to a certain amount each month)
4. change your @ name more than x times a y
5. follow people who have set their profile to "subscribers only"

[williamcll]

Give me the @everyone

[Kilrah]

I really doubt that's something people would want to pay for, but another stronger reason to boycott. 

[TehDwonz]

We should all hype up the idea of a sub model. Then not sub when they do it, so we can sit back and watch it all burn.

[Taf the Ghost]

Alternative Headline: Twitter decides it will attempt to act like a real business, still plans to fail horribly.

[Taf the Ghost]

30 minutes ago, Arika S said:

calling it now.

you will need a subscription to

1. send DMs to anyone.
2. get a new badge that will replace the "verified tick"
3. unlimited retweets (because they would be restricted to a certain amount each month)
4. change your @ name more than x times a y
5. follow people who have set their profile to "subscribers only"

With the catastrophically terrible ways Twitter is ran, they should contract EA to turn it into a microtransaction mini-game system. It'll be less stupid that what will likely happen.

[Master Disaster]

Twitters reputation is in tatters and a lot people now only go on the platform to keep up with drama. This seems like an odd time to try and get users to pay them.

 

My guess if they think they can allow users to set tweets to sub only and the drama brigade will then have to pay to access it. All I see happening is them alienating the people keeping them in business at all.

[Doobeedoo]

YIKES

Imagined subbing for Twitter or any social media. It's already a cancerogenic cesspool among everything else. 

[HarryNyquist]

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

calling it now.

you will need a subscription to

1. send DMs to anyone.
2. get a new badge that will replace the "verified tick"
3. unlimited retweets (because they would be restricted to a certain amount each month)
4. change your @ name more than x times a y
5. follow people who have set their profile to "subscribers only"
6. upload large photos/videos/artwork
7. edit tweets

Added 2 more

[jiyeon]

Absolutely hate that idea. I don't like the idea of making Twitter a paid service all of a sudden. I mainly use Twitter nowadays to keep up with sports, tech companies, the occasional celebrity, YouTuber, a whole variety of people, and I'm not sure I'd mind leaving if I'd had to pay for certain features.

 

7 hours ago, Arika S said:

• send DMs to anyone.
• get a new badge that will replace the "verified tick"
• unlimited retweets (because they would be restricted to a certain amount each month)
• change your @ name more than x times a y
• follow people who have set their profile to "subscribers only"

I hate that this sound accurate to what a sub model would look like.

[Techstorm970]

Twitter realized they have a huge man-child and woman-child problem, so now they plan to thin the horde through paid subscriptions.

 

Honestly, Facebook should do this, as well.

[Andreas Lilja]

1 hour ago, Techstorm970 said:

Honestly, Facebook should do this, as well.

Facebook Gold was actually a meme in the late 2000s.