Twitter’s Super Follows, privacy features aim to keep users and creators on the platform

The news: Twitter finally released its long-anticipated Super Follows feature in the US, letting select creators with at least 10,000 followers charge fans a monthly subscription fee for exclusive content, per a company blog post Thursday.

• That day, Twitter also announced that it’s testing a number of “social privacy” features, including the abilities to archive old tweets, remove individual followers, and automatically block accounts that post abusive comments.

What this means: Though the two announcements seem to be on opposite ends of the social sharing spectrum—one to monetize a large following, the other to limit one’s audience—they’re both defensive moves aimed at keeping creators and users on the platform.

• Twitter’s social privacy features have the most utility for the average user, helping them avoid the harassment and dogpiling that the platform has developed a reputation for, unfortunately.
• But it’s also especially beneficial for high-profile creators, who may be at greater risk of harassment. Letting creators tweet only to dedicated, paying fans through Super Follows can also mitigate that risk.
• Plus, the Super Follows feature helps keep Twitter power users from leaving for greener pastures as competition heats up in the creator economy.

The competition: Twitter isn’t a hot creator destination like Instagram or YouTube, but it has its dedicated users—namely, journalists, podcasters, and other public figures who use Twitter to communicate with their fans.

• With new rivals like Substack and Clubhouse offering users the ability to do the above and make money, Twitter has had to respond with features like Super Follows and Ticketed Spaces, which rolled out earlier this week.
• Twitter has more in store, specifically around its acquisition of newsletter publishing platform Revue. Twitter began beta testing a Revue integration with creators’ profiles in mid-August.

Key stat: While Twitter’s monthly user base in the US will increase by 0.2% this year to 55.6 million, we expect those figures to begin inching downward next year. The number of global monthly users, however, will continue to climb slowly through 2025.

The bottom line: Though Twitter’s rapid rollout of features may seem disjointed, Super Follows, Ticketed Spaces, and its privacy updates all align on the common goal of keeping creators and users on the platform.

• Because the features target groups that Twitter is already popular with—and because its competitors are still startups—this new round of features has a higher chance of success than the short-lived Fleets (RIP).