Twitter, Subscriptions and Tweetdeck
So, Twitter is now considering subscriptions and charging apps like Tweetdeck. I’m guessing the competition between Twitter and the juggernauts of the online advertising space that is Google and Facebook is getting quite fierce. I believe they also took a hit from banning certain public figures that were good at keeping people engaged with Twitter, but were not necessary good for the general discourse on the platform.
Here’s hoping that with this new revenue stream, one that is independent from the level of engagement of users, they will be incentivised to add some moderation over the types of anti-social behaviour that Twitter is currently plagued with. It makes some sense when you think about it: if I’m paying for the service, I don’t want the negative experience that comes of this. It’s a total inverse of their current business model, whereby the advertisers are the customer, and users are just the harvested eyeballs.