For a very long time, social media companies have relied on the fact that their service is “free” to use. All of these companies have bet on serving advertisements and obtaining certain user data in return to allow them to use social networks without any cost. Today, with declining revenues and tough global economic conditions, social networks are resorting to offering subscriptions in one way or another. These paid plans can unlock features ranging from vanity checkmarks to exclusive stickers to increase range and more.
Blue Twitter
Picture credits: Tech Crunch
Twitter first introduced its paid subscription in June 2021 in Canada and Australia, later expanding it to the United States and New Zealand. After Elon Musk took over the company, he increased the subscription price to $7.99 per month and relaunched the plan with features like a blue verification mark and priority in responses.
The social network’s first attempt to relaunch in November was short-lived as many profiles began impersonating brands and athletes. After putting safeguards in place to prevent this – although those measures also sometimes failed – Twitter finally launched the new version of Blue in December. Despite this, things aren’t looking great for the subscription service. According to a report by The Information, there are approximately 180,000 paid accounts in the United States and 290,000 paid accounts worldwide.
- Price: $8 per month (Internet); $11 per month (iOS, Android)
- Features: Blue verification mark; change the tweet functionality; NFT profile pictures; prioritization in conversations; bookmark folders; 60 minute video downloads; ability to write tweets of 4,000 characters; fewer advertisements; and custom app icons and themes. You can check all the features here.
- Availablity: 15 countries
Meta checked
Picture credits: Tech Crunch
Following in Twitter’s footsteps, Mark Zuckerberg also announced a premium program for Facebook and Instagram this week. At first, the plan, called “Meta Verified”, will be available to users based in Australia and New Zealand with plans to expand in the coming months. Much like Twitter Blue, this new plan will give users a blue tick, but the company isn’t removing any legacy verification from notable profiles.
- Price: $11.99 per month (Internet); $14.99 per month (iOS, Android)
- Features: A blue verification badge; additional identity theft protection such as proactive account monitoring; access to customer support; increased visibility in comments and recommendations; and exclusive stickers
- Availablity: Australia and New Zealand
Snapchat+
Picture credits: Snap
Snapchat launched Snapchat+ last June in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and United Arab Emirates. Since its launch, the service has gained more features and expanded to more countries. Last month, Snap said it now has more than 2 million paid subscribers.
- Price: $3.99 per month
- Features: Ability to pin someone as their #1 friend; priority in responses to Snap Star, the company’s program for popular creators; the ability to see “the general direction of travel for where friends recently moved” if they have location sharing enabled; custom app icons, wallpapers and notification sounds; review the count of stories; and history expiration checks. You can check out the full feature set here.
- Availablity: More than 20 countries
Premium Reddit
Picture credits: Reddit
Reddit has had a premium membership program for years in one form or another. The company rebranded its Gold subscription to Premium in 2018. The $5.99 per month plan will get you perks like ad-free browsing, custom avatars, and Reddit Coins for rewarding posters.
- Price: $5.99 per month
- Features: Browsing without advertising; custom avatars and app icons; 700 Reddit pieces per month; exclusive rewards to give to the posters. You can check out the full feature set here.
- Availablity: Global
Tumblr ad-free
Picture credits: MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
This subscription is as easy as it sounds. Tumblr launched its ad-free browsing plan last year at $4.99 per month — or a discounted price of $39.99 per year. After Musk took over Twitter, he also launched a parody service that lets you get two blue ticks for $7.99. Last month, it even extended that to rainbow checkmarks. These checkmarks don’t really do anything, but it’s a way to show that the service is supported.
- Price: $4.99 per month
- Features: Browsing without advertising
- Availablity: Global
Picture credits: Jeffrey Coolidge (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Overall, these subscriptions offer a mix of identity markers, increased reach, fewer ads, and a few visual bells and whistles. Most content services and apps (including games) offer an ad-free tier at an additional price, which makes sense. Asking users to pay for increased reach is a curious step, as these companies have been singing the song of equal distribution to content creators for the longest time. Over the past few years, various social networks have reduced or adjusted payouts for creator programs. Now, rather than investing more in showcasing creators, they’re asking users to pay for a better chance of being spotted.
After Apple rolled out app tracking transparency features in 2021, social media saw a massive negative impact on ad revenue. Additionally, betting like the Metaverse hasn’t taken off in tough economic conditions. So, more and more social media companies are considering other sources of revenue such as subscriptions. Although these services have a massive user base, they haven’t made any noticeable progress. Snapchat+ has over 2 million followers, Twitter Blue is said to have nearly 300,000 users, data suggests Reddit Premium users are less than 400,000, and Meta is just getting started.
Data from analytics firm Sensor Tower suggests that since the relaunch of Twitter Blue, people have spent over $7 million on in-app purchases. On Snapchat, the amount of in-app purchases is $64 million since the launch of Snapchat+.
“While the amount of revenue from these subscriptions pales in comparison to total ad revenue, premium subscription plans bode well for Twitter and Snapchat to increase user loyalty (and engagement) while simultaneously creating an alternative source of revenue outside of the particularly competitive advertising market,” Abe Yousef, senior analyst at Sensor Tower, said.
Content streaming sites like YouTube and Spotify offered ad-free features and experience and the ability to consume content online as part of their premium package. And they managed to get millions of paying users. The challenge for social networks would be to offer features that users believe are worth paying for. Until then, subscription revenue would just be a footnote on the balance sheet.
