Twitter could implement some premium subscription features in the near future as the company seeks alternatives to its advertisement-based revenue model, a company official announced on Monday.
Diversifying Twitter’s revenue durability is the “top company objective,” Twitter’s revenue product lead Bruce Falck said, adding that the slate of enhancements purporting to encourage further content creation “may include” subscriptions.
“These [approaches] … will give people and businesses of all sizes on Twitter access to unique features and enhanced opportunities for content creation, discovery, and engagement,” Falck said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
Twitter and its investors have been mulling over the prospect of adding subscription options within the app since 2020, although considerations have generally been more speculative. Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal said during a July 2020 call the company was “very, very early” in exploring a subscription service, adding that Twitter planned to be cautious about how it goes forward.
“We have a really high bar for when we would ask consumers to pay for aspects of Twitter,” he said.
One major change could be the accessibility of Tweetdeck, a dashboard allowing users to browse multiple customized feeds and posts from different accounts. The service is free and is typically used by the app’s more advanced users, as well as journalists looking to maximize the searchability of the latest breaking news. Other possibilities include an advertisement-free feed for premium members and an option to subscribe to exclusive content not available on the free version of the app.
Twitter remains in “very early exploration,” Falck said, adding that he does not anticipate to see “meaningful revenue” attributable to these features in 2021, as Twitter’s primary focus is still on expanding advertisement revenue.
Twitter is not alone as the social media industry grapples with balancing profits and user experience. Competitor Facebook, which remains free and has pledged to remain so, came under scrutiny for its selling of users’ data to third-party companies. After more than a decade of Facebook saying, “It’s free and always will be,” on its homepage, the tech giant revised its slogan to “It’s quick and easy” in 2019.
In response to privacy concerns, Apple announced a security feature designed to limit the user data access of third-party apps, including Facebook. Debuting on iOS 14 software in the early spring, the feature will allow users to opt in to third-party tracking, an option that Facebook said will prove costly to “millions of businesses around the world.”
Despite the criticism, Facebook then mirrored Apple’s mechanism, rolling out a similar feature to some users on Feb. 1 in an effort to “provide a better ads experience.” The company’s plans for a broader rollout remain unclear.
