Twitter announced on Thursday that it plans to launch a new paid option to users, allowing them to use the “Super Follow” function to have the opportunity to receive content that is available only to them.
During a presentation to investors, the company explained that the new feature will “allow users to charge for extra and exclusive material not shown to their regular followers,” according to a report by The Guardian. The content included in this concept can be material such as videos, offers, discounts and newsletters. People who take advantage of this element must pay a monthly subscription fee.
The Super Follow idea can allow users to feel more connected to specific brands as well. According to CNBC, Twitter also added that it is studying the concept of allowing its users to “report their favorite accounts”. “Exploring audience funding opportunities like Super Follows will allow creators and publishers to be directly supported by their audience and encourage them to continue creating content that their audience loves,” the company said in a statement.
Twitter’s head of design and research, Dantley Davis, said they “think that a publicly funded model where subscribers can directly fund the content they value most is a durable incentive model that aligns the interests of creators and consumers ”.
In a question and answer session later in the day, Twitter product leader Kayvon Beykpour said the company is planning to bring Super Follows to market sometime in 2021 and said users will be able to customize the price.
As reported by CNBC, Twitter also reaffirmed that “it aims at a long-term goal of mid-teen GAAP operating margin or adjusted EBITDA margin of 40% to 45%”.
At the beginning of the presentation, Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said: “Why don’t we start by explaining why people don’t believe us … It all comes down to three criticisms: we are slow, we are not innovative and it is not reliable. “
According to The Guardian, Twitter users and investors in the social media giant have asked Twitter to start a model based on the user’s subscription. Other Internet content creators use systems like Patron, Substack and OnlyFans to make a profit.
Twitter did not discuss how much money celebrities and other creators would earn from the paying subscribers they enlist. This model would allow Twitter to make money using a more far-reaching source of profit, especially when Internet advertising is heavily advertised by Facebook and Google.
Twitter is setting goals to increase its capacity and expand its market as well. In a SEC filing, Twitter said its goal is to have at least 315 million monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) by the fourth quarter of 2023, which, according to the filing “represents an annual growth rate composed of ~ 20% from the base of 152 million mDAU reported in the fourth quarter of 2019. ”
It also plans to “at least double the total annual revenue from $ 3.7 billion in 2020 to $ 7.5 billion or more in 2023”. In addition, the company wants to have twice the “development speed by the end of 2023, which means doubling the number of resources sent per employee that directly generate the mDAU or revenue”.
According to CNBC, the company’s shares rose 3.7% on Thursday.
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