Twitter Blue: What do you actually get for £2.49 a month?
Social media giant Twitter (TWTR) has listed a new paid for service "Twitter Blue" on app stores, suggesting the company may soon begin trialling the feature.
The service, which is priced at £2.49 in the UK and $2.99 in the US on Apple's (AAPL) App Store, is not yet fully enabled for users and the social network has declined to give further details.
On the Android store the Twitter listing shows "in-app purchases" but does not list pricing for the service.
Tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong, who claims to be the first paying user of the service, said it includes an "undo tweet" feature and a "reader mode" to make long threads easier to read.
The independent app researcher, who works on unearthing app features before they are released, said on Thursday the service included new colour themes and icons.
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Expected features for the paid service are thought to include an "undo" button — allowing users to recall tweets for a few seconds after sending them.
A "collections" feature, allowing users to make separate lists of tweets (rather than relying on a single bookmarks list), as well as a mode to make it easier to read long threads.
Twitter confirms “Twitter Blue”, which costs $2.99 per month by publicly including such In-App Purchase on the App Store
For testing, I’ve become the first paying Twitter Blue customer 😅
Twitter Blue comes with Color Themes as well as custom App Icons
Reader Mode coming soon https://t.co/RxQHwi6aplpic.twitter.com/UC7kfNS9PE— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 27, 2021
But, it has long been expected Twitter would launch a subscription plan as the company looks for more ways to make money from its large user base outside of its main income stream, advertising.
The company told the BBC that increasing "revenue durability" is its top aim, and that it plans to develop new ways to diversify its revenues beyond advertising.
Twitter introduced a page asking users to give consent for tracking earlier in May. This will help the service "keep ads relevant" according to the company. However, it has already warned investors that the feature will have a "modest impact" on revenue.
It also launched a "tip jar" feature earlier this month. The feature allows users to make small payments to others via third-party services.
The function adds a small icon to a user's profile, currently only on mobile devices, with a drop-down menu for other payment providers including PayPal (PYPL), Venmo, or the Cash App, the latter two of which are popular in America.
While the feature is initially limited to a small number of users — made up of "creators", journalists, experts, and non-profits — it came under fire for exposing personal information, such as email addresses.
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In April, Twitter announced it had 199 million users from whom it could make money every day in its first quarter results, this was an increase of 20% year-on-year, according to the company.
Charging customers for new services could significantly amplify the Silicon Valley company, which posted revenues of $1bn (£705m) in the first three months of 2021.
The company co-founded and ran by CEO Jack Dorsey is no stranger to subscription based businesses, having bought Revue, which offers paid-for email newsletters, and Scroll, a service that removes advertisements from news websites earlier this year.
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