Twitter will soon offer its users the option of buying press articles individually, Elon Musk announced on Saturday, a solution that has been proposed many times but whose economic model remains to be proven.
“From next month, this platform (Twitter) will allow media publishers to charge readers, article by article, with a simple click,” wrote the boss of the social network, who is constantly launching new projects – sometimes in confusion – since he bought the American company.
“This will allow users who do not take a monthly subscription to pay a higher price per article when they want to read an article occasionally”, adds Elon Musk, “it will be a win-win for the media and readers”. He gave no further details on pricing or operation.
Tries, but little success
The idea of a platform allowing press articles from different publications to be purchased individually, a form of alternative between the free online press financed by advertising and subscriptions, is not new, but never achieved the expected success.
The pioneering Danish start-up Blendle did not succeed in its bet to create a sort of iTunes of journalistic content. The company was bought in 2020 by the French group Cafeyn, which offers it… a subscription.
Elon Musk’s bet, like previous similar attempts before it, requires the participation of press publishers, who would have to agree to plug their content into the platform, which does not seem like an easy task given the chaotic history of this model and the now tarnished reputation of Twitter.