Twitter might just launch a subscription platform, hints job listing

platform hint job Twitter CEO Voice Tweets Gryphon

Twitter appears to be having a subscription platform for its social networking service in the works. A new job listing reveals that Twitter has a new internal team, codenamed “Gryphon,” that is “building a subscription platform.” Twitter is currently recruiting engineers to join this subscription team, with employees collaborating closely with the company’s payments team.

Shares of Twitter (TWTR) rose 8% Wednesday afternoon following the posting. The job posting notes potential Twitter subscriptions would be “a first” for the company, but it’s not clear exactly how Twitter plans to implement a subscription service. Twitter generates the vast majority of its revenue through ad sales and data licensing currently, and a subscription service could potentially provide exclusive content in return for a monthly fee.

Twitter, like its rival social networks has focused on offering a free service and making money by allowing brands to target ads to its large user audience. A paid subscription offering could help the company find a source of revenue beyond advertising and data licensing.
This isn’t the first time Twitter has weighed paid offerings though. In 2017, Twitter sent out a survey to users and a preview of what a premium offering of its TweetDeck app might look like, including breaking news alerts and more analytics, according to the Verge.
At the time, a Twitter spokesperson said: “We’re conducting this survey to assess the interest in a new, more enhanced version of Tweetdeck. We regularly conduct user research to gather feedback about people’s Twitter experience and to better inform our product investment decisions, and we’re exploring several ways to make Tweetdeck even more valuable for professionals.”

Would you pay for this service?

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