Users of Twitter’s paid subscription service, Twitter Blue, will receive a share of the revenue from ads displayed in their replies, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced. The new program began on February 3rd, but no additional details on how it works have been provided. Twitter no longer has a communications department, and no information is available on the support page.
Twitter Blue subscribers currently pay $8 per month (or $11 if they signed up via iOS) or $84 per year. In return, they receive several perks, including a blue checkmark, the ability to edit tweets, organize bookmarks into folders, and upload longer videos.
The company is trying to increase its profits, partly to cover more than $1 billion in annual interest payments on the loans Musk took to purchase the company. A key focus is finding additional ways to maximize engagement (and, in turn, revenue). Offering users, especially those with large followings, a share of the revenue as an incentive to subscribe to Blue and tweet more often seems like a logical step.
Meanwhile, it’s reported that Twitter charges companies $1,000 per month for a gold checkmark. Verification for affiliated accounts reportedly costs $50 per month.