Twitter rolls out Tip Jar for select users in India

Microblogging platform Twitter has rolled out Tip Jar, its monetisation feature for creators, to select users in India. The social media platform has tied up with payment gateway provider Razorpay as the first local payment provider to be added to the list which includes Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal and Venmo. 

The Razorpay gateway will enable users in India to choose between multiple modes of payment including UPI, credit and debit cards, netbanking, digital wallet and others. The feature is available in multiple Indian languages including Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil. 

In India, Twitter has rolled out the Tip Jar feature to select creators, journalists, public figures and community leaders. In a statement, Twitter said it was working on adding more payment providers to Tip Jar globally. 

Announced in early May, the Tip Jar feature allows followers to support the work of content creators by paying for it.  

The Tip Jar feature is also available on the Spaces (drop-in audio chat) feature on Twitter for Android. In a blog post dated June 22, the microblogging platform announced other monetisation initiatives. The post sought early applicants to try out the Ticketed Spaces feature, which allows content creators to charge audiences to get into an event on the audio-based feature on Twitter. It also announced Super Follows which lets content creators engage with their paid Super Followers with exclusive content and interactions. 

“You can earn up to 97% of the revenue from Spaces ticket purchases and Super Follows subscriptions. Twitter won’t take more than a 3% share until you exceed $50,000 in lifetime earnings on both products. After this point, Twitter’s share increases to up to 20% of future earnings,” said the blog post.

Currently, only US citizens can apply for the Super Follow programme. 

These initiatives by Twitter come at a time when Facebook and its group company Instagram have announced new monetisation policies for content creators on their platform. This incentivises creators to make content specific to the platform and brings in more followers. Clubhouse too announced its Creator First accelerator programme in India earlier this month, providing production and promotion support as well as a monthly stipend and brand deals for creators.