Twitter considering paid option

Twitter is considering adding a paid option for businesses and those referred to as ‘power users’, the company said on Thursday. 

The way that this subscription format would manifest would be in the form of a premium version of its popular Tweetdeck service. Tweetdeck, for those of you who are unaware, is a popular app and website that the firm bought six years ago. It allows users to run multiple accounts out of the one interface, schedule tweets and generally have greater control over their Twitter experiences. For those reasons, Tweetdeck is generally the go-to tool for businesses.

Last month Twitter reported that it had 319 million users worldwide, but, unlike Facebook that has also built a large userbase, that large amount of engaged members has not translated to attracting enough advertising revenue. 

As a result, the company is conducting a survey "to assess the interest in a new, more enhanced version of Tweetdeck," spokeswoman Brielle Villablanca said in a statement on Thursday. "We regularly conduct user research to gather feedback about people’s Twitter experience and to better inform our product investment decisions, and we’re exploring several ways to make Tweetdeck even more valuable for professionals."

Details of this survery had previously been revealed on Twitter by New York Times journalist Andrew Tavani who posted screenshots of what this premium Tweetdeck could look like:

Scoop: Twitter is developing an 'advanced TweetDeck' that would be available for monthly subscription fee & feature a range of new features: pic.twitter.com/MlKw8xZlVS

— Andrew Tavani (@andrewtavani) March 23, 2017

Further to this, an email to select users detailed how the new tool would work:

"This premium tool set will provide valuable viewing, posting, and signaling tools like alerts, trends and activity analysis, advanced analytics, and composing and posting tools all in one customizable dashboard,” the note said. 

"It will be designed to make it easier than ever to keep up with multiple interests, grow your audience, and see even more great content and information in real-time.”

This looks to be the company’s latest attempt to cure its financial ails after it posted its slowest revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2016. The company was offered to potential suitors, including The Walt Disney Company, last year, but none of them saw the 

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Twitter posted the slowest revenue growth since it went public four years earlier, and revenue from advertising fell year-over-year. The company also said that advertising revenue growth would continue to lag user growth during 2017.

Financial markets speculated about a sale of Twitter last year, but no concrete bids were forthcoming.