Media: Twitter launches paid subscriptions in two countries

Twitter on Thursday launched paid subscription offers to its users in Canada and Australia who want access to convenient features, a new strategy for the social network that seeks to diversify its revenue sources beyond advertising.

“With this initial phase, we hope to gain a better understanding of what can make your Twitter experience more personalized, lively, and generally more on-the-go,” the platform said in a statement.

For 2.5 euros ($3.65 CAD) per month, subscribers will have access to bookmarks to store their favorite tweets in categories, a more convenient “Read” mode and, above all, a “Cancel” button, to view their tweet before the final submission and possibly edit it.

Network users have long requested this option, because they are frustrated to see misspellings or rough estimates frozen in digital stone forever.

“We often hear a lot that we don’t always build features that meet user needs. Well, that will change,” Twitter says.

The San Francisco-based company plans to add other benefits for subscribers, but said the free Twitter service “will not and never will.”

At the beginning of May, it purchased Scroll, an ad-free news-reading app, in order to promote its new paid version that is currently being rolled out.

“As a Twitter subscriber, imagine having access to advanced options where you can easily read articles from your favorite newspaper or newsletter, knowing that a portion of your subscription will go to publications and authors,” Mike explains. Park, Twitter Vice President.

The group in California is struggling to find ways to generate revenue without disrupting the smoothness of its real-time messaging system.

At the end of April, he published weaker-than-expected results. The number of so-called “monetizing” daily users (who were exposed to at least one ad on a given day) reached 199 million in the first quarter, a million less than analysts’ expectations.

The platform wants to expand beyond its core audience, made up of celebrities, journalists, and political leaders. But you should also continually invest more to combat misinformation and problematic content, thus keeping, as much as possible, discussions and exchanges calm.