Twitter plans to double revenue by 2023, teases new 'super follow' feature

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc will launch new features and products faster to catch up with rivals in a plan to double annual revenue and reach a least 315 million users in 2023, it said on Thursday, boosting its shares 5.6%.

“We know we’ve been slow,” Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said in an investor day presentation. “When you compare us with our peers, it’s been especially stark.”

The social media network estimated annual revenue of at least $7.5 billion by the end of 2023.

Twitter shares were up more than 4% at $75.16 late Thursday afternoon, after reaching an all-time high of $80.75.

Twitter said it was exploring new money-making features, including tipping and paid subscriptions to “super follow” some accounts. The second feature, which lets users charge their followers for access to additional content, will launch this year, a spokesman said.

The site, typically used to broadcast short messages to a wide audience, is also working on building more ways for people to have conversations, it said.

This includes hosting live audio discussions using its ‘Spaces’ feature, which is being tested with about 1,000 users, and letting people share longer-form content using Revue, a newsletter publishing service Twitter acquired last month.

It is also considering allowing “communities” to be created for particular interests.

Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s head of consumer product, said creators would be able to customize communities, including setting and enforcing “social norms” beyond Twitter’s rules.

The efforts are designed to help Twitter reach its goal of at least 315 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU), or those who see ads, by the fourth quarter of 2023, and stay ahead of wildly popular but smaller apps like ByteDance’s TikTok, which have quickly attracted a worldwide audience through its viral videos.

Internationally, Twitter faces challenges in India, a rapidly growing market with plans to require that social media companies erase certain content and coordinate with law enforcement.

Twitter had previously refused to delete content connected to farmers’ protests in India.

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