New Financial Features on Twitter

When I first signed up for Facebook, I primarily used it to keep in contact with my friends and family as most of us do. Fast-forward nearly 10 years later and there is so much more we can do on social media. From getting the news to shopping, from engaging influencers and creating content, the way we use social media today has vastly changed over the years.

It comes as no surprise that many platforms are revamping their services. One that comes as a surprise is a paid feature on Twitter. After taking down its story feature, Twitter is now offering users options to “tip” your favorite creators by sending them money through any of the major banking apps like PayPal and CashApp.

On top of the tip jar that creators can add to their profile, Twitter is offering another way for creators to access the cashflow of their fans. While Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, has been adamant that Twitter will remain free, creators can now charge followers to access private tweets in addition to content seen by non-paying users.

This could be good news for Twitter influencers but I’m under the impression that influencers “sell” something. I don’t know if I really see influencers selling stuff on Twitter; I usually just see some viral accounts that have funny tweets. I personally wouldn’t tip an influencer on Twitter simply for having good tweets. What I think it comes down to is the type of account you have. If people are willing to pay you because you’re a funny influencer, great! But from a PR perspective, this feature can really benefit nonprofits by directly raising funds on their page without having to link back to a donation website. I could also see the media taking advantage of this by tweeting out subscriber-only content to its users who pay for newspaper and magazine subscriptions.

If this is a service that takes hold, other social media sites may follow suit as they often do.