Twitter is considering offering paid membership option for business users. However, the idea of Twitter premium membership is being assessed by the company, as it reported not so pleasing performance last year. Therefore, Twitter is doing a market survey to see the response of target segments to the offer. The company representative said that the premium members would get an access to several premium features, which the regular users of the service could not have. What are they?
What Twitter Premium Membership Will Offer
Twitter premium membership will be offered for Tweetdeck, an enhanced version of Twitter with better interface. It will be designed to provide the professionals with more values. It is now conducted a small scale research to gather feedback from the potential customers. Twitter is sending email to a number of selected users. The email contains a description on how the new tool will work. The company representative also said that the premium tool might include:
- Valuable posting, viewing, and signaling tools, which may include activity analysis and trend analysis
- Customized dashboard
- More advanced design to keep up with multiple interests and to grow your audience
- Tools for real-time information
- Ad-free chatting experience
- And several other possible services
The company has hired a team of developers to design the premium membership platform. The platform will target professionals, politicians, journalists, celebrities, and other influential figures, who need secured social network with advanced features. Many influential figures, such as the President of the United States Donald Trump, and that of any other countries have a Twitter account, and they are potential user of the Premium platform.
Behind the Idea of Twitter Premium Membership
Some people might question the reasons for the Premium offer. The company representative said that they are developing a way to make better investment decisions, since Tweedeck is not yet so profitable. Even with the Premium membership, Tweetdeck still has to compete with other similar networks, such as Snapchat, HootSuite, and SocialFlow.
During the last several months, Twitter has struggled to strengthen its membership base. As reported in several online media, the number of its active users has been plateaued. Its income from advertising is even declining, despite fast growth of online advertising market in the last few years since it failed to attract new users. Therefore, the company has been attempted to enhance the ways to use Twitter and to improve its features.
Actually, the idea to offer premium membership platform has been rolled out since 2009, but it never materialized. Eleven years after its founding, Twitter still focuses on building user base and relies mostly upon advertising for profits. In this aspect, Facebook excels as it has more sophisticated advertised network and wider user base.
Even though the company still cannot expect growing revenue from advertising this year, Twitter is optimistic about its free membership platform. Now, it has more than 319 millions of users worldwide. Twitter premium membership will help boost the company’s investment results as long as it can offer more interesting platform that pays the money, which the users will pay for the services.