Twitter announced on February 25 that it plans to add two new features to platform : i) the ability for users to charge their followers for access to additional content and ii) the ability to create and join groups related to specific interests.
The payment feature, called Super Follows, will allow users to charge their followers to let them access extra content. That content could be bonus tweets, access to a community group, a newsletter subscription or a badge that indicates their support. In a mockup screenshot, Twitter showed an example where a user charges $4.99 per month to receive a range of perks. Twitter sees this as a way to allow creators and publishers to get paid directly by their fans.
Direct payment tools have become increasingly important for creators, especially in recent years. Patreon has been wildly successful, and other platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and even GitHub have all launched direct creator payment features. According to The Verge, Twitter is also reportedly considering subscription features that would provide it with a new revenue stream — though it doesn’t seem to have said “what that fee will be” yet.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22328742/twitter_communities.png "Twitter: You will be able to charge your followers to see your tweets! 2")
The next feature that Twitter is expected to introduce is called Communities, and it looks like it will be something like Facebook Groups. With this feature, users will be able to create and join groups with specific interests – like cats or plants – allowing them to see more tweets that focus on those topics. Groups have been a huge success on Facebook (and a huge moderation problem, though), so they could be a particularly useful tool on Twitter, as the open nature of the service can make it difficult for new users to get started on the platform.
However, there is still no clear timeline for when any of these features will become available.
