Twitter wants to split its user base with a premium tier

Brands and news organisations may soon have to pay to use Twitter.

Multiple screen shots of a survey as well as proposed mock-ups have surfaced online, hinting at Twitter’s plans to offer a paid subscription service.

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

Looking at the mock-ups that were tweeted by Twitter users, the premium service will include new, advanced analytics, breaking news alerts, and insights into what an account’s followers are tweeting about.

According to The Verge, the premium, ad-free tier would sit inside TweetDeck, the platform most commonly used by brands and organisations, but the core aspects of Twitter that we know and love, will remain free.

Essentially, the service will be an enhanced version of TweetDeck, but it’s still a long way off. The social network giant is still gathering feedback from Twitter users and won’t even prioritise its roadmap until it’s assessed interest.

"Twitter is considering offering a more advanced TweetDeck experience, with more powerful tools to help marketers, journalists, professionals, and others in our community find out what is happening in the world quicker, to gain more insights, and see the broadest range of what people are saying on Twitter," read the survey.

The move would provide a much-needed revenue stream for Twitter. The platform’s advertising revenue has taken a nosedive with research firm eMarketer reporting its US mobile advertising revenue is expected to decline for the first time this year, from 2.6% in 2016 to 2%.

It could be said that splitting its user base will essentially place a divide between free-for-all users and the posting elite. Twitter could essentially become a traditional broadcast medium where paying users get a global voice while everyone else sits in the wings.