Twitter Sashays Into the Creator Economy

The lines between user and influencer are blurring rapidly, even for social media companies like Twitter that have been frankly unaccustomed to treating their most popular users as creators. Twitter, which will soon allow creators to paywall their tweets as part of its Super Follow feature, has just started to roll out a tipping system to get the money flowing. Tip Jar kicks off a new flow of capital between users, getting them comfortable with transacting on the platform while Twitter girds its own media ecosystem, preparing additional paid products like a sitewide subscription service. Still, the company has a long way to go in order to fully build out a creator economy, like adding legal guidance and tightening security. “There are pros and cons with any feature,” said Tessa Kavanaugh, vp and group director for social at Havas Media. “The most prominent pro being that fans can now seamlessly create a one-on-one connection with their favorite creator to thank and support them for meaningful content, with the hope that they will create more on Twitter.” Tipping has already been a staple of more robust creator platforms like Twitch, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. New audio platform Clubhouse even beat Twitter to tipping, having rolled out that feature last month in the platform’s first monetization effort. Twitter Rolls Out Tip Jar Feature to Limited Number of Accounts Tip Jar, which was released on Thursday, had some immediate problems: Security researcher Rachel Tobac tweeted that using PayPal to tip reveals the sender’s address, and the journalist Yashar Ali revealed that enabling tipping led to an influx of Venmo requests rather than payments. Giselle Ugarte, the CEO of the influencer consultancy Action-Forward, said that the tipping feature is an important step toward Twitter recognizing that “the creator economy is very real and very valuable.” “We often use that word 'influencer'—and previously, it was only attached to the types of creators who all they do is create content in a very superficial way—but that’s not the case at all anymore,” Ugarte said. “In fact, the most extraordinarily average human beings can be the most influential ones on society.” Twitter's highest-profile blue check users are often celebrities or journalists, many of whom might not need or be allowed to take tips. However, the site also hosts robust professional and ethnic communities (think Marketing Twitter or Black Twitter), and with its most open policies toward nudity, it's essential for sex workers too. Many creators on Twitter already monetize their audiences through tipping or other platforms like Patreon. Absurdist humor account Dril, the patron saint of Weird Twitter, makes $2,135 per month through his Patreon. Users and creators also need guidelines before they can fully understand a new feature like this, Ugarte said. “What’s missing is some sort of guidance to determine our best practices,” she said. “What are the does and don’ts, what are the faux pas? And even from a legal standpoint, do I have to pay taxes on this? Do I have to report this? What does this mean for my business or is this a personal form of income?” Karyn Spencer, CMO of influencer marketing platform Whalar, said that she is supportive of any initiative that helps online creators get paid, but thinks that money should primarily come from the platforms themselves. “The creator economy began when social media platforms declined to share their revenue streams with creators, and creators responded by first, collaborating with brands for payments, then, acquiring equity in companies for larger collaborations, and finally, becoming business owners and entrepreneurs themselves,” Spencer told Adweek. “I wonder if creators would have ever gained the power they now have if social media platforms simply provided monetization for them in the first place.” She added: “Tipping is a nice-to-have, but equitable platform monetization based on revenue shares from ad dollars that are shared with creators based on performance is a must-have.”

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Twitter Sashays Into the Creator Economy

The social media site's new tipping feature signals a broader shift towards a creator-first platform

Scott Nover

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