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Twitter is surveying users on what features they’d want from a subscription

Twitter is surveying users on what features they’d want from a subscription

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A first look at what a paid version of Twitter might add

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Twitter’s blue bird silhouette logo is seen on a black background.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter has officially confirmed that it’s exploring the idea of a paid subscription model, and now the company has started to survey users about potential features that might be added as part of a prospective paid service, via reporter Andrew Roth on Twitter.

Roth’s thread shows a variety of features that Twitter is apparently considering as part of a paid tier, including the option to quickly undo tweets immediately after they’ve been sent and the ability to post longer and higher-resolution videos. Surveyed users are asked to select the most and least important of the suggested ideas.

The full list of possible features includes:

  • An “undo send” window that would allow you to recall a tweet within 30 seconds, which sounds similar to Gmail’s “undo” button. It’s the closest thing to offering an edit button that Twitter has talked about yet.
  • Custom colors for the Twitter app and website
  • The ability to post longer and higher-resolution videos
  • More advanced analytics
  • Custom profile badges (an example given is that journalists could have badges noting which publication they work for)
  • Canned responses to select from for faster replies
  • Job recruiting features (for posting jobs and connecting with potential recruits)
  • Custom stickers and hashtags
  • Insights into other accounts (which could show all of your past interactions with a user)
  • “User roles,” which would make it easier for large organizations to grant access to company accounts without having to directly share passwords
  • Fewer or no ads at all

Twitter also seems concerned about whether users would react badly to a paid tier that would wall off some features, with a portion of the survey dedicated to asking whether users are concerned that it would hurt Twitter’s standing as an open platform or tilt conversations in favor of paid users.

Rumors of Twitter’s subscription platform first broke through a job posting for a new team at the company called “Gryphon,” which was said to be “building a subscription platform” for the company. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey would go on to confirm that the company is in the “very, very early phases of exploring” new monetization options for the site, but he tempered that announcement by noting that the company has “a really high bar for when we would ask consumers to pay for aspects of Twitter.”