Twitter announced it is partnering with Stripe to power its new ‘Super Follows’ feature, which allows users to pay content creators for exclusive content via subscription.
The feature, which launched on the iOS app Wednesday and is available in the US and Canada, allows creators to set up monthly subscriptions for monetizing content. Twitter is releasing the feature amidst instability to subscription-based OnlyFans and widespread subscription use on platforms such as Patreon.
Super Follows allows users to set a subscription amount at $2.99, $4.99 and $9.99 for additional bonus content which includes behind-the-scenes access, early previews and subscriber-only conversations, according to a Twitter press release.
Creators can find and interact with public ‘Super Users’ through a ‘Super Follower’ badge, which are highlighted on users names when they reply to creator’s tweets.
“Stripe’s products now power many leading businesses growing the creator economy, including Clubhouse, Substack, GoFundMe, Kickstarter and Patreon. Stripe is also driving deeper shifts that allow creators and platforms to generate more revenue, open up new income streams, and turbocharge their growth — all powered by Stripe,” the company stated in a press release.
The Super Follow feature is only available for a beta group of creators right now, offered through an application process to Twitter. The requirements to create a Super Follow subscription include creators being over 18 and in the US, having more than 10,000 followers, and tweeting at least 25 times in the past 30 days.
This move by Twitter to attract and monetize content creators takes place at an opportune time, as OnlyFans attempts to heel turn from its plan to ban explicit content. That announcement caused a large number of adult creators to consider leaving the site, and although the decision has been reversed, many users are still planning to look for new platforms to share their content, according to Bloomberg.
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter also runs the helm of financial giant Square – though its subscription basis doesn’t have the same creator fund following as Stripe’s.
While this partnership certainly helps add brand awareness for Stripe, it’s not as if the company really needs it. Founded in 2010, the online payments platform is preparing to go public via direct listing, following a $95 billion valuation at the time of its latest funding round.
While the company doesn’t need the processing revenue from Twitter’s new feature, the notoriety is sure to help it continue competing against highly-recognizable competitor brands Square and PayPal.
In other recent fintech news, premium debit card company Point raised a $46.5 million Series B led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. HomeLight also secured $363 million in funding to help push its goal of expediting and simplifying the real estate process.