Cat's outta the virtual bag... Tweet this: Twitter stock jumped 7% thanks to a few words in a job description. Some Wall Street Sherlocks found this buried in a Software Engineer job description: “we are building a subscription platform.”
- Codename "Gryphon": That's the new subscription team Twitter inadvertently revealed. The now-viral new hire would work closely with the Payments team to lead "Subscription client work."
- Ad revenue makes up more than 80% of Twitter’s sales, and it's likely to take a hit from the corona ad-pocalypse — Subscription could be a key new revenue stream.
We have a few questions... Will everyone have to pay to use Twitter? Is Twitter spinning off a brand new premium Twitter (if so, please consider: "Twitter Titanium"). Twitter's past might shed light on how this could play out:
- In 2017, Twitter ran a survey to gauge interest in a paid subscription service for power users (like companies and news orgs).
- The "power user" premium: These paying users could get beefier analytics, breaking news alerts, and info on target demographic activity.
- Alternatively, Twitter could offer a Patreon-style product where you can subscribe to certain tweeters' exclusive tweet content.
Less dependence on ads could make Twitter a more civil place... Social media platforms are known and loved/hated for being free places to post and share. But their ad-dependent biz models mean algorithms that amplify the reach of posts generating the most engagement — that's often the most intense and divisive ones. A subscription model could liberate algorithms to focus less on the provocative posts since money is coming from somewhere besides engagement-driven ads.