Twitter may let users receive tips from their followers, CEO Jack Dorsey said

• Twitter is exploring allowing users to receive payments from their followers, CEO Jack Dorsey said.
• This would give an economic incentive to people who are contributing to Twitter, he said.
• The company is also reportedly considering charging a subscription fee for possible future features.

Twitter is exploring allowing its users to receive tips, or digital payments, from their followers, CEO Jack Dorsey said Wednesday.

The feature would help the social media platform earn more money and engagement from its base of 192 million daily users, he said.

"I think the first thing we want to focus on is that economic incentive to people who are contributing to Twitter," he said at the virtual Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference.

Introducing user tipping and new features like content subscriptions would help Twitter diversify its revenue, which it currently earns mainly from selling advertising on Twitter. The company expects its total costs and expenses to grow "25% or more" in 2021, it said.

The company said Tuesday during an earnings call with analysts that it did not expect subscriptions to be meaningful to the company's revenue until next year.

Last month, Twitter bought newsletter startup Revue, as it hopes to attract users wanting to create long-form content.

Twitter is also reportedly exploring charging a subscription fee for possible future features, like an un-send tweet button or access to analytics.

And it still plans to develop Bluesky, the decentralized social network that it's been working on since 2019, Dorsey said.

At its earning call Tuesday, Twitter said its user count surpassed 192 million in the Q4, a 27% increase year-over-year, despite with mounting pressure on the company regarding its influence on the 2020 presidential election and spread of misinformation on the platform. It posted $1.29 billion in quarterly revenue.