Twitter announces: more security, more monetization
Twitter has announced new features and provides insight into the company’s general strategy. For prominent twitterers, the activity on the platform could soon pay off – even in Bitcoin if desired.
New protection functions for all users, additional options for creative people to earn money on the platform. This formula can be used to bring a whole package of new features that Twitter has now announced and wants to roll out worldwide.
Overall, Twitter wants to diversify further in the coming months and enable its creators to promote other content in addition to the classic 280-character messages, such as newsletters and audio content. Live audio content in particular, but also recordings and replays, are very popular – the Spaces area is to be further expanded for this purpose. When it comes to the target group, the company thinks of journalists or comedians, for example, who will be able to offer their audience content for money in the future and, for example, can also integrate ticket systems.
All of this is linked to a more sophisticated monetization strategy than before. In addition to classic subscription models, “tips”, for example, should also be given, one-off donations as a kind of donation or fee. In connection with this, in addition to some common currencies, crypto currencies – here explicitly Bitcoin – should also be accepted. On the one hand, this has to do with the fact that they are perceived as relevant, on the other hand, according to company spokesmen, it should also be suitable for creators in emerging countries, where the classic banking system is different from that in industrialized countries.
The Bitcoin functionality is to be offered worldwide, whereby the company explains on request that the monetization functions are to be made permanently available via third-party services without a direct commission to Twitter. The concept of “Super-Follows” called Premium Services, which will initially be available in the USA and Canada from September and initially via iOS, could make it easier for creators to earn part of their livelihood with Twitter via social platforms.
On the other hand, there are some protective functions aimed at all Twitter users, which should make Twitter a more pleasant space with more relaxed discussions. The aim is for users to receive a safety mode in which they can protect themselves more specifically against hatspeech and unwanted content. At the same time, the company is reportedly aware that it is not always possible to have the right balance when recognizing “inappropriate conversation” and enforcing deletion requests.
In the future, users will therefore be able to specify their own rules to a greater extent than before, which will then hide inappropriate content in their own area. On the one hand, conversations and threads can be muted as before, and you can specify who can participate in a conversation and see content. Apart from that, there should now also be thematic channels in which only certain topics should take place. However, by default it will be possible to quote and retweet tweets that are posted here – so these are not completely closed groups.
In the future, users should be able to hide content, terms and topics that they do not want to see in more detail than before. But you should also have additional options for blocking, such as block lists or algorithms that are regularly updated. In addition, there should be a way not to block people explicitly, as this is often seen as aggressive and rude. Instead, other members who follow you should be able to be “unfollowed” without them being explicitly informed about this. They just don’t see their own content anymore. In the future, it should also be possible to specifically keep individual users out of individual discussions, unlike in the past, where you can only determine, conversely, that only your own followers can comment.
All of this should lead to Twitter becoming a more relaxed place for everyone – this is also recommended in view of the discussion culture that often prevails here. So far, a lot is apparently still in development and in the beta phase. The company did not provide any explicit information about which of the functions are available when in the EU and in Germany. It is clear, however, that the innovations mentioned will initially be available under iOS and only later on for Android – and that the USA is always the first market in which the new features are rolled out.
