Twitter is getting ready to launch its ticketed space feature, and today previews what users can expect when they host its first. US users will be able to apply for hosted paid live audio rooms within the next few weeks. Anyone who wants to charge must have 1,000 followers, have hosted three venues in the last 30 days, and must be at least 18 years old.
The company is partnering with Stripe to manage the payments, and it says users will receive 80 percent of the revenue after Apple and Google accept app-purchase fees. So if you sell a $10 ticket, Apple would presumably take a 30 percent cut, leaving you and Twitter to split the remaining $7. Eighty percent will go to you, and 20 percent will go to Twitter. The company said it would cover the cost of strip transaction fees. (Hosts will also need a strip account).
A Twitter spokesman said the initial applications would be processed in a few weeks when they open, and the team plans to start with a small test group. Although only US users will be able to host these ticked locations at this time, anyone around the world will be able to purchase access. Spaces have just started allowing more than 100 followers to host anyone and adds scheduling skills to an event, and the company says it is also working in co-hosted spaces.
This live audio function is one of the many ways that Twitter has announced that it will help monetize its users. It is planning Super Follow, which lets people pay for bonus content like newsletter subscriptions and more tweets, and it launches a community feature. The company did not say whether the 80/20 split also applies to super followers.
Twitter can also offer a larger subscription product called Twitter Blue, which can pay for additional features like the ability to undo people’s tweets. While Twitter’s products have been stagnant for most of the year, it has continued a rapid firestorm of last year’s customer-facing product announcements, seemingly in an effort to diversify its earnings and create a more fully rounded space where people can use a variety of text, audio, and video. Content throughout.
