Twitter Inc. gave the first outline of a potential subscription product that will let people charge followers for access to special content or experiences, part of a broader effort to diversify the social network’s revenue sources and give high-profile users a way to make money on the service.
The company mentioned a new feature called Super Follows during an Analyst Day event on Thursday, which it described as an “account subscription” where users could charge others on the service for certain content. This could be a number of things, including exclusive tweets, special access to another user’s direct messages or audio conversations, or a paid newsletter, said Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s head of product. The company plans to release Super Follows “sometime this year.”
The shares rose to an all-time high on the product announcement and an upbeat forecast for sales and user growth through 2023. San Francisco-based Twitter recently purchased newsletter startup Revue, and executives have said they are excited about letting newsletter writers build a paying audience on the service. The company is also considering “tipping,” or letting users donate money to people they enjoy following, and charging for Tweetdeck.