The Twitter app has generated $6.4M in consumer spending so far • TechCrunch | So Good News

Elon Musk has a new plan to monetize Twitter. The social media company’s new owner is said to be looking to revamp Twitter Blue premium subscriptions, currently a $4.99 per month option for low-income users, by raising the price to $19.99 per month and giving subscribers a coveted verification badge. Although the system is difficult for several reasons – the purchase of confirmation downloads, the removal of confirmation from users who cannot pay, such as journalists and various well-known figures, will help spread falsehoods – it is also important to note that Twitter Blue represents today did not do well. The registry itself really needs to be reformed – not the ill-conceived, ill-conceived reform like this.

Launched in June 2021, initially in Canada and Australia, before being expanded to the US and New Zealand in November, Twitter Blue is designed to help the social media network diversify its revenue and reduce its reliance on advertisers, who today account for more than 90% of Twitter’s total revenue. . The idea is Blue has been persuading Twitter’s most affluent users – its power users – to pay a small monthly fee to gain access to a number of special features such as bookmarking tools, the ability to read news without ads, custom. images and navigation, access to new content, a quick typo correction feature and, most recently, the long-awaited Edit button.

But so far, none of these things have provided a strong incentive to make more money on Twitter.

If that’s the case, Twitter users believe that the Edit button should be part of the site, not a standalone, payment-only option. And they’ve challenged this decision by not jumping to sign up for Twitter Blue, app store information shows.

In addition, Twitter has surprisingly chosen at times to release new, on-demand features to non-subscribers instead of paying Twitter Blue customers, as promised. For example, while Twitter this month expanded access to the Status experiment, which allows users to tag tweets with comments like “Don’t @ me,” “spoiler alert,” “frontline news” and more, it didn’t include a way in Twitter Blue.

This means that paid Twitter users have to watch as a subset of Twitter users, including many free users, have to play with fun, new additions to Twitter that they couldn’t use. A very surprising decision for the company, and one that does not understand the needs of power users.

The lack of demand for Twitter Blue can be seen in the low price it has managed to pull so far.

According to intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Twitter’s mobile app has seen nearly $6.4 million in consumer spending worldwide so far. By comparison, Twitter’s annual revenue in 2021 was $5.08 billion. In the second quarter of this year, Twitter made a total of $ 1.18 billion, $ 1.08 billion of which came from sales. (Twitter also makes money from data licenses and other sources, so even the difference between the two numbers can’t be made up to registration alone.)

Yes, it’s impossible to tell from third-party data exactly the amount of money spent by consumers in the Twitter program was directed to Twitter Blue in particular, as Twitter also offered purchases within the program “Paid Places” – that is, paid entry into a special event as part of Twitter’s audio output. But we can estimate that Tickets Spaces revenue was only a small part of the total, if any, as Twitter found that the feature saw little traction so they decided to close it last month, Twitter recently confirmed to TechCrunch.

Sensor Tower also reported that Twitter Blue’s monthly subscriptions were the most expensive in-app purchases, suggesting that the bulk of in-app purchases may be coming from Blue subscribers, rather than those paying for the Unused Space portion.

The lack of Twitter Blue isn’t just a sign of an app with fewer users. Year to date, the company has seen 153 million installations worldwide, a slight drop of 3% over the 158 million seen in the same period last year (January 1 to October 27), Sensor Tower said. As of Q2 2022, Twitter had 237.8 million daily active users (mDAUs), it said during its earnings call.

Meanwhile, another social media app with a similar subscription model is much higher than Twitter Blue, even though it’s only been around for a few months.

Snapchat also launched its first subscription service earlier this year with Snapchat+. Like Twitter Blue, the subscription of $ 3.99 per month for Snapchat + (cheaper than Blue) focuses on the power users of the program and offers its own benefits. Snapchat+ subscribers today can change the profile of the app, see who has viewed their Stories, publish someone as a “Best Friend,” change the display time of their Stories, use sound notifications and more. It’s a good compunt of how registration works, if it’s good.

By Q3 2022, Snapchat+ had reached more than 1.5 million paying subscribers in more than 170 countries, the company said.

Following its launch on June 29, 2022, Sensor Tower data shows that Snapchat+ generated more than $28 million in consumer spending worldwide. It is also attracting users who are willing to commit to long-term payments. A monthly Snapchat+ subscription is the most common in-app purchase, but the second most popular option is an annual subscription, the company noted.

In other words, in about four months, Snapchat + earned more than four times what Twitter Blue has in 17 months. Even counting that Snapchat has 363 million daily users to Twitter 237.8 million (although yes, a slightly different metric like Twitter counts users who can see its ads – mDAUs, not DAUs), it’s clear that Twitter Blue never existed. a devastating victory.

So, in a way, Musk wouldn’t be wrong to say that Twitter Blue needs a change.

But his idea to burn Twitter Blue’s verification process and Twitter down and turn it into a Klout score for people with money to show their wealth – the modern “I Am Rich” program, we can argue – is a stupid, wrong idea that is almost funny at this point.

There are many things that Twitter users can pay for, but verification, such as the Edit button, is not among them.

Then, survey posted by investor Jason Calacanis – now one of the “Twitter war room” members – shows this. Out of over 1 million polls and counting, 81% of respondents said they would pay nothing for verification. About 11% pay the same as what others currently pay for Blue – $5/month. (Musk said he was “excited” about the results of the vote, which means he will reconsider his decision to raise Blue’s price to $20 a month at a time when people can’t afford to put gas in their cars.)

In short, there are things that Twitter, as a service, should only provide to users and things that should be paid for additionally. Verification should not be a part of paid features, but also functionality, such as the ability to edit a post. Perhaps paying to scan a verification request may be as useful to some as an independent purchase of an app. But by default, verification makes Twitter work. It doesn’t have to be paid.

What Twitter users can pay for are things they may see as extras, such as the ability to remove ads from the site by paying for a subscription instead – just like the subscription services offered today.

Users can also consider subscribing if they remove paywalls from many of the top news publishing sites, not just a few, or if they open up online access, similar to how LinkedIn’s paid subscribers can access their inbox without first connecting. Some brands may pay to be a certified business or additional marketing tools. Users and developers can pay for better search results and advanced search results, including search results for your followers.

But $20 a month – better than Netflix! – show you have the money to burn the blue sign? Good luck with that.