Twitter has announced the launch of its paid subscription feature called ‘Super Follow’ through a blog post on August 31. It said that the feature will at present only be available to iOS users in the US and Canada, although it will expand to iOS, Android, and web users worldwide over time. Only certain accounts who had applied to Twitter’s call for applications to use the feature when it first launches will be able to enable it right now, although there is a waitlist coming up for new entrants.
The ‘Super Follow’ feature marks Twitter’s efforts to compete with other social media networks that allow monetisation and offer exclusive subscriptions like OnlyFans, YouTube, Substack, and more. Meanwhile, Twitter has also faced heat for instances of massive trolling and hate speech on its platform due to its broadcast-like design, which it has tried to curtail by introducing features such as restricting tweet replies, hide replies, and now by introducing exclusive content.
Waitlist for being eligible to allow super-followers
Twitter hinted that there was going to be a waitlist for new entrants looking to use the feature. To be eligible for it, they would have to meet the following criteria:
- Have 10K or more followers
- Be at least 18 years old
- Should have tweeted 25 times within the last 30 days
- Should be in the U.S.
- Needs to follow Twitter’s Super Follows Policy.
The pricing for subscriptions
Twitter said that there will be three price points for subscriptions, payable monthly, and they can be cancelled any time. These prices are $2.99, $4.99, and $9.99.
Google and Apple will take 30% of the payment as an in-app purchase fee and 3% will be taken by Twitter to ‘cover processing fees’. The rest of it will be the actual earnings of someone being super followed until they reach $50,000 in lifetime earnings, after which Twitter’s share will increase to 20%.
As an example, Twitter provided the following break-up for an account having a $4.99 super follow subscription:
- $4.99 – Super Follows subscription cost
- $1.50 – Apple’s in-app purchase fee (currently, 30% of subscription cost under Apple’s terms, subject to change by Apple)
- $0.10 – Twitter’s minimum share to cover processing fees
- $3.39 – Creator is eligible to take home up to this amount
No payment details or credit card information of a follower will be shared with the Twitter account they’ve followed, however, Twitter said that it will receive a receipt of the transaction containing some information about the purchase, including the last four digits of the card number used. It also mentioned that no refunds or free trials would be available for these subscriptions.
How to Super-Follow
The ‘Super-Follow’ option will be available on the enabled accounts’ profile, right next to the regular follow button at the top-right corner, which would list out the kind of content that the account will provide to paying followers and their subscription fee.
Meanwhile, ‘Super-Followers’ will get a purple badge against their profile name every time they reply to the account they’ve super-followed.
Other recent features from Twitter
In September, Twitter reportedly said that it was testing a new ‘Safety Mode’ which was rolling out as a beta feature for select users. It said that this feature would reduce “the prevalence and visibility of harmful remarks”.
In August, Twitter said that it was testing a new feature through which users will be able to flag tweets that come across as misleading. It also said that the feature would initially only be available for some users in the United States, South Korea, and Australia.
In July, the company reportedly confirmed that it was testing new upvote and downvote reactions for tweets. It also said that it was adding a new “Voice Transformer” feature, which will basically let users use multiple voice effects to change their voice in real-time when hosting a live Space. In the same month, it was also reported that the platform was testing another feature that would inform the user if their account has been locked or suspended.
In June, Twitter reportedly partnered with homegrown fintech startup Razorpay to launch its ‘Tip Jar’ in-app payments feature in India. This allowed creators to monetise their content and earn money from their supporters. It also launched its own subscription service called ‘Twitter Blue’ that month.
Also read:
- Twitter tests new feature wherein users can report tweets as misleading
- Twitter tests feature to prompt users to read articles before retweeting them | MediaNama
- Twitter is ‘improving’ how it labels misleading 5G and coronavirus content, after mislabelling unrelated tweets | MediaNama
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