Will you have to pay for Twitter? Jack Dorsey talks future subscription plans

Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Twitter, has hinted he's looking at various new approaches as ad revenue drops.

It was revealed that the company's ad revenue for the last quarter fell by 23 per cent, partly down to the pandemic.

The news came on a call with investors, with Dorsey telling analysts that Twitter is now looking at other ways to make money.

"You will likely see some tests this year," of various approaches, Dorsey told CNN Business on an investor call.

Dorsey said he has "a really high bar for when we would ask consumers to pay for aspects of Twitter," but did confirm that he is looking for other sources of revenue.

He said it was in its "very, very, early phases of exploring".

Rumours were already circulating around Twitter looking at paid options when they posted an job advert focusing on building a subscription platform with the codename Gryphon.

Shares of Twitter rose four per cent in early trading Thursday following the news.

Twitter has always focused on the free platform model, like its rivals. Dorsey was keen to point out that this hasn't changed and any paid services would be "complementary".

"We do think there is a world where subscription is complementary, where commerce is complementary, where helping people manage paywalls... we think is complementary," he said.

Of course, rumours have now turned to what people could be asked to pay for - from an edit button to exclusive video streams all being floated by users.

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