Twitter has announced a feature called “Super Follows” that allows users to charge their followers for access to additional content.
That additional content could be bonus tweets, access to a community group, subscription to a newsletter, or a badge indicating your support.
According to the example shown by Twitter, a user charges $4.99 per month to receive a series of perks. This mirrors the paid features that platforms like Patreon and Onlyfans have, meaning users can start charging a monthly fee to give followers access to more content.
Twitter sees the new feature as a way to let creators and publishers get paid directly by their fans.
The initiative to let content creators get direct payment have become increasingly important for creators in particular in recent years.
With the launch of Super Follows, Twitter will join the ranks of Facebook and YouTube that has launched direct creator payment features. Like those other guys, Twitter will presumably take a cut though it doesn’t appear to have said what that fee will be.
Not everyone loves it
The launch of Super Follows doesn’t come entirely as a surprise. There have been rumours about Twitter working on a subscription model.
The new feature appears to have rubbed some Twitter users in the wrong way. After the announcement, users circulated the hashtag #RIPTwitter voicing their opinion on the incoming feature.
Some users called out Twitter, asking how they could release a Super Followers feature before an edit button that users have been yearning for.
Twitter communities
Another feature Twitter announced yesterday was the Communities. This new feature appears to be a copy from Facebook Groups.
Communities will allow people to be able to create groups around specific interests like sports, fashion and other interests. According to Twitter, this will make the tweets on the timeline more focused on those topics.
Tweets about Chelsea shared within the Chelsea community, for instance, would stay within that group to allow members to feel comfortable tweeting, regardless of what is happening around the world.
Other features the company announced included “safety mode”. This is a new feature that would allow users to automatically block accounts that break Twitter rules. It also mutes accounts that appear to be “acting abusive or spammy” or targeting users with insults, hateful remarks or name-calling.
The timeline or exact date for the roll-out of both the Super Follows and Community features has not been released yet but Twitter listed them as “what’s next” for its platform.
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