Twitter is adding a ‘Subscribe’ button to peoples’ profiles that will allow users to quickly sign up for newsletters.
The signup and distribution process will be facilitated by Revue, a newsletter publishing company Twitter acquired back in January.
Revue broke the news via a series of tweets, stating:
“We’re currently building new ways to grow your newsletter audience, and we want to preview one that will live right on your Twitter profile.
We want to give writers tools to turn their growing, engaged Twitter audience into newsletter subscribers. This will be available for Revue newsletters soon, so stay tuned. Now, back to work to keep building.“
After signing up, newsletters will be sent to the email address associated with the user’s Twitter account.
Revue shared an example showing how the process works.
The Subscribe button will appear on a user’s profile underneath the mutual followers section.
Twitter will display the name of the newsletter, a brief description of what it contains, and how many subscribers it has.
After hitting the Subscribe button, a notice appears telling the user that their email address will be sent to the newsletter creator.
From this screen users will have the option to read a sample issue before officially handing over their information.
As a final step, users will be asked to confirm their subscription by clicking a link in their email.
Looks like a good design choice as it will help prevent accidental signups.
The feature is reportedly rolling out in the next few weeks and will be available to anyone with a Revue account.
Availability
Publishers who have Revue newsletters will be able to activate this feature directly in Revue.
Considering how publishers can offer paid newsletter subscriptions through Revue, this may be the first instance of users being able to monetize their Twitter profile.
Revue allows publishers to create free or paid newsletters, with Twitter taking a 5% cut of revenue earned through subscriptions.
Creating and distributing newsletters with Revue is otherwise free, which will make this a new opportunity for marketers to build mailing lists on Twitter.
Launch Date
No exact date has been announced for the launch of the Subscribe button. It’s said to be rolling out on Android and desktop first, and an iOS launch will follow at a later date.
With paid newsletters being an option, it might make sense to integrate this feature with Twitter Blue as an additional perk.
Twitter Blue is a premium offering that gives users access to exclusive features for a monthly fee. The service launched this month in a limited number of test countries.
This is just an idea, but adding a newsletter subscription to the package may help sweeten the deal.
Take YouTube Premium as an example. Among its list of perks is the ability to become a member of one channel at no additional charge.
Amazon Prime is another example. Prime members can subscribe to one Twitch channel per month at no added cost.
In each of these cases the content creators are compensated the same as they would be from any other paying subscriber.
Twitter could potentially do the same by combining Blue with Revue. It would add more value for premium members while helping to boost revenue for creators.
It’s likely too early for Twitter to be considering anything like that, however. We’ll learn more when the Subscribe button launches in a few weeks.
Also see: Twitter Acquires Revue – Newsletter Publishing Startup
