Twitter Blue: A subscription-led future of Twitter?

KOLKATA: Is Twitter gearing up to launch a subscription service? Yes, say reports. The microblogging site is considering the launch of Twitter Blue priced at $2.99 per month, according to an independent researcher.

One of its most interesting features is “undo tweet” which could allow users to prevent a tweet from being sent. Users can even customise time intervals for undoing tweets. The subscription model also includes planned features that would help users to save and organise tweets into collections.

Twitter is working on “Undo Send” timer for tweets pic.twitter.com/nS0kuijPK0

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 5, 2021

The company has been gradually taking multiple steps in recent times to explore other revenue streams as its advertising-led model is facing several new challenges. For example, Apple’s recently launched App Tracking Transparency for all iPhones with iOS 14 forcing developers to ask users for permission before they can track them. Twitter is now asking users to give consent for tracking to ‘keep ads relevant’.

Earlier this month, it acquired Scroll, a subscription service that removes ads from participating news sites. It “will become a meaningful addition to our subscription work as we build and shape a future subscription service on Twitter,” Twitter product vice president Mike Park wrote in a blog post after the acquisition.

Twitter reported $1.04 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2021, up 28 per cent year-on-year. It also posted a profit of $68 million, turning back its business from $8.4 million in losses a year ago. Advertising revenue totalled $899 million, an increase of 32 per cent and total ad engagements increased 11 per cent year-over-year. However, monetizable daily active users (mDAU) grew about 20 per cent to 199 million, falling slightly below the analysts’ expectation of 200 million