On April 30, Twitter CEO Elon Musk posted on the Twitter platform that Twitter plans to launch a single article paid reading function next month, allowing media to publish The merchant charges users who click on the article to read it. Musk also said that if users don’t subscribe to the media on a monthly basis, then they will pay more for each article they read, which will be a win-win for the public and media organisations.
According to the US “Business Insider” website, the Twitter platform has not released more details about the plan, such as which accounts are eligible to use this feature, how much a paid article platform will get, whether this feature is limited to official media, etc. The “Business Insider” website stated that some media organisations have tried charging by article in the past, but this model has not continued because monthly subscriptions are more guaranteed income. According to a 2020 article in the Columbia Journalism Review, micropayments will never be part of journalism. Premium publishers want to attract subscribers, especially those who pay regularly.
The “South China Morning Post” reported on the 30th that in order to increase Twitter’s income, Musk has been carrying out reforms. The company rolled out a paid Blue Label certification feature and shrank its workforce base by about 80%. Ad revenue for the social media platform had previously declined before the acquisition was completed last year.