Eric Izazaga
Published on April 8th, 2021 , 11:55 AM by Eric Izazaga in
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Twitter Announces the Super Follows Product Update

Featured Image for Twitter announces the Super Follows feature, the Webstacks crew weighs in
Table of contents

Twitter Announces Paid Super Follows

Webstacks Weighs in on the Twitter Feature

Conclusion: How Twitter Reacted to the Super Follows Announcement

Webstacks Gets in on the Action

Twitter is Twitter. It’s a social platform where hot takes are encouraged, heated debates are common, and users can channel personas that they couldn’t otherwise channel in the real world. It’s a free-spirited environment where users Tweet whatever they want, whenever they want (as long as the content abides by the guidelines). It’s arguably home to the best natural content. But now the natural, off-the-cuff feel on Twitter may have just been compromised with this new update.

Or, Twitter may have introduced the next best update that blends the idea of a subscription-based service with the concept of OnlyFans, the most popular content subscription application. But any Twitter changes come with alarming questions.

Twitter Announces Paid Super Follows

Twitter unveiled the Super Follows feature after hinting at a possible subscription-based service for years now. And the bluebird brand is confident in its new feature since the update fits into social models that have been popular on other social platforms. Super Follows is a feature that will allow Twitter users to charge their faithful followers a small fee to receive extra, exclusive, behind-the-scenes content that regular followers can’t consume. Followers will get to join an exclusive “cool kids club” on Twitter. The content could range from bonus tweets, access to a community group, newsletter subscriptions, or even a badge you can add to your profile to let everyone know that you're paying for content that may be free on the internet. No shade thrown. Nonetheless, Twitter is looking for ways to generate more revenue and makes it apparent that they want Twitter creators and publishers to monetize their stuff. In the mockup screenshot, Twitter displays the UI of the Twitter feature for both the users and the content creators. In terms of the UI, it looks great -- but will Twitter users really give up some dough for gated content? A spokesman for Twitter stated that the Super Follows was due to be launched in 2021, so we’ll have to wait and see the outcome.  

Webstacks Weighs in on the Twitter Feature

We’re still able to give our opinion, right? So we asked a few of the Webstacks crew members to share their thoughts on the new Twitter changes. Jesse Schor, Head of Growth at Webstacks, approved of Twitter’s subscription model and considers the concept a powerful tool that content creators could leverage. “It is another line of revenue for folks creating content,” says Jesse. “Think about how difficult it is for content creators to take their following out of the app and have to generate a subscription list organically.” Content creators can now build their subscription lists within Twitter, and if they have thousands of followers already, it shouldn’t be a problem to get them to pay up, right? UI/UX Designer Kate Kassab, who is quite the micro-influencer herself, questions the new Twitter changes stating “I don’t know if Twitter is the right place” for creators to monetize content. “As a creator, I’m already overwhelmed with all the different platforms that I can use to make money. I like having multiple streams of revenue, but I don’t want to overthink my tweets and cater to subscriptions (with the pressure of posting high-quality content constantly),” she adds. Kate also agrees that Twitter is attempting to emulate what OnlyFans is “because exclusive content is the new big trend. I feel that if the people I’ve followed for years and have formed friendships with were to suddenly say “Hey, you have to pay to see my good tweets” I wouldn’t pay the money because I don’t want to spend to use Twitter.com.” Ellie O’Hara, a Marketing Technologist at Webstacks, isn’t much of a social media user. Despite her lack of social activity, she wouldn’t pay for Super Follows. “I wouldn’t find any value in purchasing access to exclusive content,” she says. “However, I think it will help content creators because there are many people that live on social media and care about what influencers post. I can see their fans paying for exclusive content.” Interestingly enough, the Twitter Super Follows feature has received mixed reactions from all Twitter users. Matt Navarra, a Social Media consultant with a healthy following, asked his audience whether they would pay up for the Super Follows feature  — 85% responded no. Definitely not something Twitter officials should be jazzed about, but again, the feature is not out and who knows what social media will be like months from now.  

Conclusion: How Twitter Reacted to the Super Follows Announcement

So you’ve heard what our team had to say about the feature, and you now know that 85% of Matt Navarra’s audience wouldn’t open their wallets for these Twitter changes. To make matters less promising, I ran into a few hilarious, strong, and no-shame reactions to the Twitter updates. Starting, we have Josh who warns his followers that he’s throwing up the peace sign if anyone asks him for a super follow. At least he’s honest. Not to mention, the hashtag was trending the day the feature was announced. Talk about savage. But it doesn’t end there. Daniel humored us with this flawless meme. For years now, Twitter users have been longing for an edit button to allow users to edit their tweets. Turns out that Twitter announced the wrong button -- I guess you could say that Twitter set itself up for this one.  

Webstacks Gets in on the Action

 Of course, we had to get in on the action. The concept of Super Follows is almost identical to OnlyFans, which has more than 1 million users worldwide and 85 million registered users, according to The Guardian. Whether Twitter is attempting to copycat OnlyFans or not, it seems as though Twitter users will need more time to think about the new Twitter changes and Twitter updates to come. On the other hand, content creators whose content is compelling enough to drive super followers will be licking their chops.

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Table of contents

Twitter Announces Paid Super Follows

Webstacks Weighs in on the Twitter Feature

Conclusion: How Twitter Reacted to the Super Follows Announcement

Webstacks Gets in on the Action

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