World’s biggest microblogging platform, Twitter, recently announced a new feature called ‘Tip Jar’. This feature will allow users to send money to show support towards their favourite Twitter accounts. It is a virtual tip system that will direct users who want to send money to platforms such as PayPal, Patreon, and Venmo. According to an AFP report, the feature is currently available for select users who can tweet in ‘English’. These select users can add the ‘Tip Jar’ feature on their profiles through which other users can send them money for showing their support. As per Twitter’s senior product manager, Esther Crawford, this select group of users include experts, journalists, creators, and non-profits.
Twitter Doesn’t Take Any Commission
Esther clarified that the money transacted via the ‘Tip Jar’ feature would solely be meant for the account it is sent to. Twitter won’t take any cut or commission out of the said amount. This is Twitter’s effort in driving the conversation one step ahead, where users can show their support by going beyond the traditional retweets and likes button. Esther wrote in a blog post that users can add the ‘Tip Jar’ feature to their profiles, and when another user wants to donate money to them, he/she will be taken to different payment windows of PayPal, Patreon, and Venmo. The feature will soon be extended to other users across the world with support for more languages. This would be the first time in the complete history of Twitter that it will allow users to transact money through its medium. Even though Twitter does not own the payment gateways, it still makes sense to add the ‘money’ element for the creators and individual accounts so that they take the platform even more seriously. Twitter reported weaker than expected earnings last week, and thus this new feature should help it attract more users and make them spend more time on the platform. With the arrival of new social media platforms, Twitter has been reduced to a platform that’s majorly used by politicians, media people, and celebrities to share information or engage in debates. There is no timeline given by the company on when the newly launched feature will be available for users across the world in multiple languages.
