Elon Musk has said that Twitter is soon going to allow publishers the option of charging for readers’ content on an ‘article-by-article basis’ with just a click.

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• Users of Twitter could soon be able to pay for individual articles, rather than subscribing to a particular news outlet.
• Elon Musk announced on Saturday that the feature which allows publishers to charge for a single article will be available next month.
• It is not immediately apparent what other details are available, such as which accounts qualify for this feature.

Soon, media publishers will be able charge Twitter users for reading individual articles that are shared on the platform instead of requiring them to subscribe to a paywalled outlet.

Elon Musk, Twitter's CEO, announced on Saturday that his company will roll out a new feature in the next month. This will allow news outlets to charge users per article with just one click.

Musk tweeted: "This allows users who wouldn't sign up for a subscription to pay more per article for an occasional article." "This should be a win-win situation for media organizations and the public."

There were also a few other details that weren't immediately clear. For example, which accounts would qualify for the feature? How would payment processing and distribution work? And would it be limited to official media outlets, or would it be open to anyone with subscription-based material on platforms such as Substack and Patreon.

It is also unclear at this time what percentage of the fee for reading an article will go to Twitter. It's also unclear how many outlets will actually use this feature.

There was no official description on Twitter's site or help center as of Saturday afternoon. Insider did not receive a response from Twitter immediately after Insider requested a comment. Musk had changed the policy of the company for dealing with the media last month.

Media outlets have tried paying per article before, but the model didn't stick. Instead, they prefer monthly subscriptions, which tend to bring in more revenue.

James Ball, in a 2020 article for the Columbia Journalism Review wrote that "micropayments won't be a thing" in journalism, stating that many media outlets are reluctant to do this for various reasons, both philosophical and logistical.

Ball wrote that "one of the main reasons publishers are reluctant in adopting this mechanism is because most publications are designed as package deals." "Premium outlets are looking to sign up new subscribers, particularly on recurring payment plans."

Tony Haile, founder of analytics company Chartbeat, and CEO of Scroll told Ball that he viewed media subscriptions as gym memberships, and believed paying a la carte didn't work either way.

If you were to take the micropayments option of a gym subscription, it would mean that I could turn up, pay a few quid and use the gym whenever I wanted. No gym operates like that."

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By: amcdade@insider.com (Aaron McDade)
Title: Elon Musk says Twitter will soon let publishers charge to read content on a ‘per article basis with one click’
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-will-let-media-charge-readers-per-article-2023-4
Published Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2023 19:18:12 +0000

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