Twitter has long been a platform that provides users with access to a variety of news sources and media outlets. However, Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk, recently announced that the platform will introduce a new way for publishers to earn revenue. Musk stated that Twitter will allow media publishers to charge users for access to individual articles that they post on the platform, starting as soon as next month.
While details regarding the new feature are scarce, Musk stated that users will pay a higher per-article price than they would if they subscribed to the outlet. However, this pricing model is aimed at users who only want to read occasional stories from specific outlets. Therefore, each article’s cost may be lower than that of a monthly subscription.
It is currently unknown which media outlets and accounts will be eligible to offer per-article charging, nor has Twitter revealed what commission they will take. However, Musk previously announced that Twitter would not take any money from creators for the first year of the new subscription feature. After that year, Twitter will take a 10% commission on subscriptions. It remains unclear whether Twitter will apply the same commission from publishers to per-article payments.
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As Twitter has increasingly introduced paid features to boost revenue, it is no surprise that the company plans to take a cut from per-article payments. Twitter’s Blue subscription, which costs $8 per month, includes the coveted verification badge. Additionally, Twitter shut down its free API to introduce a new paid API that enterprise customers would have to pay almost $50,000 per month to access. As a result, some organizations, such as NYC’s transport authority, have chosen to end their Twitter integration or leave the platform altogether.
To sum up, Twitter’s new per-article payment feature is an exciting development for publishers looking to earn revenue on the platform. It remains to be seen how the feature will be implemented and how much Twitter will take as a commission. However, given Twitter’s recent moves to increase revenue, it is clear that the platform is focused on providing more paid options to its users.
