Social media platform Twitter may soon come with a monthly price tag, as rumours about ‘Twitter Blue’ continue to swirl.
It has long been suggested that Twitter should take to a subscription model as a way to increase the overall monetisation of the userbase.
According to analysts, Twitter’s average revenue per user (ARPU) is around $US$4.30, compared to Facebook’s $US7.89.
And now, a Twitter subscription service looks finally set to be made available, with online tipster Jane Manchun Wong detailing plans for the new option, set to be named ‘Twitter Blue’.
According to Wong, Twitter Blue will cost $US2.99 (around $3.85) a month and will include special features such as the ability to save and organise tweets into collections and an “undo tweet” button.
And while Twitter Blue is currently based mostly on rumour, a string of recent acquisitions might suggest the new service is on the cards.
Earlier this year it snapped up Revue, a newsletter provider that allows users to write and publish subscription emails, while just this month it bought Scroll, a service which removes ads from news sites.
Scroll’s former chief executive Tony Haile confirmed the product was set to be “integrate[d] into a broader Twitter subscription later in the year”.
Wong suggested these services might be used to create different subscription tiers for users.
Industry commentator Professor Scott Galloway has previously urged the social network to move into the PR vertical with a subscription model.
“Their opportunity is to acquire distressed media properties, go vertical, and move to a subscription model. Subscription fees should be based on the number of followers,” Galloway said.
