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Twitter Super Follows Use a Bizarre System That Gives Each User Their Own In-App Purchase

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Each Twitter Super Follow subscription is an individual in-app purchase for every account with the feature set up, it has emerged.

twitter-super-follows-app-store.jpg
Screenshot from Jane Manchun Wong showing Twitter's in-app purchases on its App Store page.​

The unusual system, spotted by Jane Manchun Wong, means that for every Super Follow there is an individual in-app purchase for that account specifically. Some observers are speculating that each Super Follow in-app purchase will have to be set up manually by Twitter on the App Store, making the system even more unconventional.

The App Store does not allow for multiple instances of the same subscription, leading other platforms such as YouTube and Twitch to get around this by effectively allowing users to buy a sub-token that can be directed toward a specific creator.

This means that there will be thousands of Twitter in-app purchases, dwarfing Twitter's own Twitter Blue subscription and Ticketed Spaces, Twitter's App Store page will only show 10 in-app purchases since it would be impractical to show the entire list.

Apple only allows developers to create up to 10,000 in-app purchases, so it is not clear if Twitter will limit the users eligible to sell Super Follows at 10,000 minus Ticketed Spaces and Twitter Blue.

Twitter announced Super Follows earlier this year, allowing creators with at least 10,000 Followers to charge up to $9.99 per month as a subscription for access to exclusive tweets. Twitter takes a three percent cut of Super Follow subscriptions up to a total of $50,000, making Apple's 30 percent in-app purchase fee markedly larger.

The feature finally launched yesterday, starting in the United States and Canada, but it will be rolling out globally on iOS in the next few weeks.

Article Link: Twitter Super Follows Use a Bizarre System That Gives Each User Their Own In-App Purchase
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/09/02/each-twitter-super-follow-in-app-purchase/
Hopefully people are mindful of how many "influencers" they follow, could be an ugly mess like when kids started racking up micro transactions on mobile games.
 
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It's beginning to feel like 9/10/2001. What's Anne Heche's mental state these days? 🤦‍♂️
 
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This is exactly what developers have been complaining about. Apple's IAP system sucks and limits what you can do with it in so many ways, this is just one of them.

They can't do a single sub, because you subscribe to multiple people. There are no "add-ons", so your options are what Twitter is doing here, or having "1 Super Follow"/"2 Super Follows"/"3 Super Follows"/etc. But then that doesn't work. Because if you change your sub in the App Store settings then who did you un-super-follow? And if you tap un-superfollow in the app they can't modify your subscription in that way. So they are left with the only "logical" solution in a terrible system.
 
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It's not bizarre, it makes complete sense - Apple will censor payments to sex workers, so this will enable Twitter to continue to serve those users and take the payments via other mechanisms without having to forgoe in-app payments entirely.

Not a very well thought out article.
 
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