Twitter has long been completely free to use, but that’s changing with the launch of the new Super Follows feature. Twitter as you know it will be staying the same, but now users will be able to charge followers for access to extra content.
In other words, Twitter is taking some steps to mimic Patreon, and help influential followers monetize their tweets.
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Twitter has already posted a mockup of the Super Follows feature, giving us an idea of what sort of content can be locked behind a paywall. That includes special supporter badges, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, bonus tweets, access to dedicated community groups, plus exclusive deals and discounts. These hypothetical perks cost $4.99 a month to access.
A lot still isn’t known about Super Follows, but presumably it will end up similar to direct payment tools offered by other companies. In those instances the content creator sets the price and the perks, while Twitter takes a cut for itself. Unfortunately, it’s not clear how much of a cut Twitter will take.
Twitter Communities
Twitter also announced that it has a new feature called Communities on the way. From the sounds of things this is basically the same as Facebook’s groups. That means users can create or join groups centered around specific topics, and letting them see more tweets about them.
Here’s just hoping that Twitter Communities aren’t a massive moderation headache, as has been the case with a lot of closed Facebook Groups. That said, this feature could help make Twitter a bit more personal, and makes it easier for users to discover more accounts to follow.
There’s no timeline on when either feature will be rolling out. Twitter has labelled them as “what’s next”, but without knowing more there’s no telling when they might come.
