Twitter is rolling out Tip Jar, a new feature to allow tipping for various tweets, according to a company blog post.
“We $ee you — sharing your PayPal link after your tweet goes viral, adding your $Cashtag to your profile so people can support your work, dropping your Venmo handle on your birthday or if you just need some extra help,” the post stated. “You drive the conversation on Twitter, and we want to make it easier for you to support each other beyond follows, retweets and likes.”
The Tip Jar feature will be easily identifiable through a Tip Jar icon next to the Follow button on one’s page, according to the post. When a user taps the icon, they’ll see the payment services or platforms that account has activated for payments.
As of now, Twitter has enabled payments through Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal and Venmo. Users can then choose to pay through those options, the post stated. On Android devices, payments can be sent through Spaces. Twitter takes no cut of the payments.
“Tip Jar is an easy way to support the incredible voices that make up the conversation on Twitter,” according to the post. “This is a first step in our work to create new ways for people to receive and show support on Twitter — with money.”
Everyone on Twitter in English was able to begin using the service to send tips as of Thursday (May 6), the post stated, and only some people can add Tip Jars to their accounts right now, including “creators, journalists, experts and nonprofits.” The company plans to expand the service in the future.
Twitter’s first quarter earnings showed that it now has 199 million monetized daily active users, up from 166 million in the same period from 2020. The previous quarter had 192 million. Twitter said it had been attracting more new people to the platform than ever and expected that to continue.