TwitPub invents paid Twitter accounts

This was bound to happen: Someone has invented a paid access scheme for Twitter. TwitPub is a marketplace where Twitterers can sell access to their updates, by registering their protected accounts with the service. Other Twitter users sign up and pay for access to these accounts on the TwitPub marketplace. TwitPub takes 20 percent of the subscription revenue for itself and gives 80 percent to its publishers.

TwitPub works by gating access to protected Twitter accounts. Once a user pays for access to a Twitter stream, the system sends the author of it an e-mail advising him or her to allow that user to see the updates. (In the future the e-mail loop should be removed.)

Setting up a Twitter account for gated access, in TwitPub

(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)

Authors set their own subscription prices, but the floor is $0.99 a month, which is too high. Another snag: Although author payments are sent to PayPal accounts (handy), subscribers must pay by credit card via WorldPay, a payment processing system relatively unknown in the United States. I wanted to test TwitPub, but I wouldn't even pay for my own updates since I had to hand over my credit card to this processor that I'd never heard of.

But the real question is: Is this for real? Can it possibly work? The logic of the founders is not without merit. I am sure there are some people who would be willing to pay a few pennies to subscribe to regular entertainment (horoscope, gossip) updates or, more likely, financial information like stock tips. The founders believe that since the people pay for access to Premium SMS channels in various countries, it indicates that they'll also pay for Twitter updates.

Not me, though. On Twitter as elsewhere on the Internet, there is so much great content available for nothing. And for the truly critical information that I would pay for, the medium is not important. If I'm signing up for some kind of major financial or business alert, I want it to find me wherever I am -- e-mail, IM, phone, Twitter, everywhere. TwitPub doesn't reach that far. In other words, for frothy, fun content it's too expensive, and for important information it's not rich enough.

Moreover, the real money in content is not in getting a few people to pay for the odd update or subscription, but rather using mass distribution to drive consumers to services that are easier to make more money from. A lot of online music may become free but will be used to promote paid concerts; You can read blogs for free but are pitched to pay to attend bloggers' concerts or buy their books; And I'm on Twitter for free but I want you read my stuff on CNET, which is paid for through advertising. Direct payment for content can work, but on the Web, it's a fringe business.

If you do want to try TwitPub, feel free to sign up for my new Rafe's Tech Affirmations account (sole entry so far: "You look better than your Twitter avatar"). If I get more than a few people signed up for it, I'll begin to update it regularly.

[mikedibenedetto]

Does twitpub revoke subscriptions from users who are retweeting these pay tweets? i can imagine someone paying the 99 cents a month to follow a popular user, then retweeting those tweets for free to get a following and then marketing to that following if it gets big enough.

[linnetwoods]

Unbelievable! There is no way I would expect anyone to want to pay to communicate with me or read my tweets and I honestly can't think of anybody I would be willing to pay to follow on Twitter, much as I love so many of the people I currently follow - the idea seems preposterous to me! Oh well, what do I know? LOL

[TravisVan]

This model might work for certain types of content in certain niches where information = money. Say, hot short-term investment tips from a broker via a Twitter stream. Or picks of the day from a sports betting site to gamblers. Hard to understand how it would be compelling in more mainstream content areas. As you note, readers are too fickle to shell out anything (heck, even sign up for something that's free) to stick around the second someone is asking them to pay to follow. Interesting concept - but seems difficult to imagine it going very far as a revenue stream.

[robertmacewan]

Can't see this working for "popular bloggers" like JohnChow, Shoemoney or ProBlogger, however there may be a market for medical, celeb., news like NYT.

[ryanwilliams737]

yea gotta agree with TravisVan that twitpub is more focused on providing content where information is useful for generating revenue in other places. in other words the info provided by the premium twitter account is actually worthy of being paid like the stock tips or betting tips. but i guess twitpub is more focused on established publishers who already have a huge content database looking for places to increase their revenue stream instead of normal twitter users who tweet about normal stuff...who would pay 99cents to follow my tweet about my daily life? well, i guess professionals with information to share would probably find a way to monetize their twitter account using twitpub

[georgewsu]

This only makes sense for timely, premium access to something that is limited.

For example, releasing codes for early access to buy the first tickets to a concert, sporting event, or other event. Also, this is ideal for coupons to access a special sale (think Black Friday, or American Express Wishlist).

George
http://twitter.com/techrantandrave

[RichardMJohn]

As odd of a choice it is, Worldpay is very well known in the UK, and is definitely safe.
It's owned by RBS (of which the UK government now own a majority stake).

[mmarfise]

I hope this doesn't get much traction, there are better ways to monetize twitter

[LeannMoore]

Well yes,there could be better ways but does that mean Twitpub's a bad idea?Not necessarily.Everything starts somewhere,so does Twitpub.There could be room for improvement but to call it fail barely two days after its press release,isn't it a lil' too fast to jump into conclusion anyway?

[TerminatorSalvation]

from what I read from other blogs - http://honeytechblog.com/ - TwitPub actually targets more to professional and established authors or content providers. TwitPub actually helps to distribute and monetize their content, which I think it's quite different from normal everyday tweets. I won't pay for a guy who just tweet about how good looking he is but I will probably consider paying to follow tips on stock trade, or really good content from popular content providers. Maybe they could work with some good media partners to increase their credibility. At the moment, it's partly still new but I will keep it on my radar to see if it flies.