Twitter's woes continue while considering new business models
posted Sunday Jul 26, 2020 by Scott Ertz
As time passes, we're learning more about Twitter's major hack last week. The newest revelation is that not only did the hackers gain access to the system to be able to post their Bitcoin scam posts on high profile accounts, but they also got access to private data. 36 of the profiles that were compromised also gave up access to the users' direct messages (DMs).
This was an issue that the company was worried might have been part of the attack but had previously stated they had no evidence of. However, they did say that part of the shutdown of large portions of the service, especially for verified users, was to prevent access to private information, such as DMs. As it would appear, the move was the right one, as it potentially stopped the attack at 36 instead of the full collection of 130 compromised accounts.
The company has also been fighting against a large revenue drop. Part of the problem comes from user confidence, but it has also been largely impacted by advertiser confidence. Some advertisers have decided that the value of Twitter advertising isn't high enough during the economic downturn. Other advertisers have decided that Twitter isn't a safe place to put their brand, as it might sit next to content that their customers might find offensive.
Whatever the reason, advertisers have been leaving the platform in droves. That leaves the company scrambling to figure out how to generate revenue in the absense of advertising dollars. The current concept is through a subscription model. Subscriptions, whether thtye be monthly boxes or software services, have become more popular. However, integrating a paid service into a free service can be challenging.
The company has said, even if they add a subscription plan, the core service will remain free. So, what would a paid user get that a free user wouldn't? A bypass of advertising is a common scenario in mobile apps, but that doesn't tend to be subscription-based. Perhaps new features, such as the ability to post longer messages? Only time will tell, assuming the company moves in that direction at all.
If Twitter added a paid tier, what would be required for you to sign up? Let us know in the comments.
