The premium messaging options, according to the article, will charge a small cost for each message and are targeted at “Very Important Tweeters, or V.I.Ts.” It’s unclear if a user will have to pay a price up front to send messages to a celebrity or if they will only be charged once the celebrity agrees to receive their communications.

There is a monetization aspect to it, of course. According to reports, Twitter will collect a portion of the money customers pay to speak with famous people who are most likely wearing verified badges. The business model is not all that dissimilar from those of Apple or Google, which each charge up to a 30% cut to app developers so they can reach smartphone consumers through the App Store and Play Store, respectively.

The plans for a paid texting system are flexible, though, and it’s possible that they won’t materialize. On the other hand, high-profile products like the Revue newsletter platform, which was closely linked to a writer’s Twitter account, and the Note tool for publishing lengthy essays on the site have already been shut down or put on cold storage by Musk.

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