Twitter could provide publishers with a new way to make money from their content beyond the usual recurring subscription. According to CEO Elon Musk, Twitter will allow media publishers to charge users for access to individual articles they post on the website as early as next month. Users will end up paying a higher price per article than the cost of accessing each article if they had a subscription instead. But Musk said it’s for those who want to occasionally read stories from a specific source, so each article probably won’t cost as much as a monthly subscription.
However, for now, details about the upcoming feature remain vague. Musk has only said that it will start rolling out next month — it’s not clear which accounts and media outlets will be able to offer pay per article. In addition, the owner of Twitter did not disclose how much the website would charge in commission. When the company officially replaced Super Follows with Subscriptions, Musk announced that he would not take money from creators for the next 12 months. At the end of the year, Twitter will I take a 10% discount by subscription.
Engadget reached out to the website for clarification, but no longer has a press office. We’ll have to wait for more information to see if Twitter implements the same rule for pay per article. Ultimately, the company will get a stake — Musk-led Twitter is rolling out more and more paid features to boost revenue. It’s pretty common knowledge at this point that its confirmation badge is now a perk on the $8/month Blue subscription. Twitter has also shut down its free API in order to launch a new one that users will have to pay for. Access to the new API will cost enterprise customers nearly $50,000 per month, which is why some organizations and companies, such as the New York City Transportation Authority, have decided to end the Twitter integration or leave the website instead.
