Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and co-founder & CEO of Square, speaks during the crypto-currency conference Bitcoin 2021 Convention at the Mana Convention Center in Miami, Florida, on June 4, 2021.
Marco Bello | AFP | Getty Images
Twitter on Wednesday launched Super Follows, a feature that allows select users to charge others for access to subscriber-only content.
This new feature will finally allow the company’s most popular users to generate revenue from their followers, but access to Super Follows is limited.
Here’s how you can qualify and apply for access to set up your account for Super Follows.
How to qualify for Super Follows
Not everyone will be able to set up Super Follows for accounts. It’s only open to users who:
Have at least 10,000 followers. If you haven’t hit that milestone yet, you’re going to have to keep tweeting for free.
Have tweeted at least 25 times within the last 30 days. If you aren’t creating regular content, step aside.
Are based in the U.S.
Are least 18 years old.
How to apply
If you meet the qualifications, applying will be easy.
Open up the Twitter app and swipe the screen to the right to pull up a menu. Toward the bottom of that menu you will see “Monetization.”
Because I have more than 10,000 followers, I am allowed to set up a subscription Super Followers account.
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Tap on that, and then tap on “Super Follows.”
This will take you to a screen that explains how Super Follows works and how much you could earn by monetizing your Twitter account.
For example, I could earn nearly $900 a month from Twitter if I priced my Super Follows at $4.99 per month and 2% of my nearly 13,000 followers subscribed, according to Twitter. (This is purely hypothetical, as CNBC doesn’t allow reporters to earn money this way.)
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Tap on “Check eligibility” at the bottom of the screen, and you’ll be taken to a screen that shows if you qualify. If so, you can tap on the “Apply” button.
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Twitter will ask you to verify you are 18 or older, and it will ask you to complete your profile and turn on two-factor authentication for your account.
After that, Twitter will ask you what category of content you’ll be making, such as art, comedy or gaming. It will also ask you what other platforms you are on, including Twitch, Facebook and OnlyFans.
Finally, the application asks you to describe how you plan to use Super Follows. Applicants can also fill out an “About you” description of themselves and list their gender and ethnicity, although these are not required. Once filled out, users hit “Submit application.”
After the application
It’s unclear how long users have to wait to be accepted after they submit their application, but in its announcement, Twitter said that users who apply for Super Follows will join the waitlist.
Users whose applications are accepted will be able to set their subscription price as either $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99.
Once you have a Super Follows account, you’ll be able to designate every tweet as either for regular followers or for paying followers only:
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Your followers will be able to sign up by clicking a purple icon with a human and a star next to the follow button on your profile.
That’s it! Now you can finally earn some money from your Twitter habit.
The Texas Instruments headquarters in Dallas, Texas, on Jan. 21, 2024.
N. Johnson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Texas Instrumentsreported second-quarter results on Tuesday that beat analysts’ expectations for revenue and earnings. But the stock fell in extended trading due to a third-quarter forecast that missed estimates.
Here’s how the chipmaker did versus LSEG consensus estimates:
Earnings per share: $1.41 vs. $1.35 expected
Revenue: $4.45 billion vs. $4.36 billion expected
Texas Instruments said it expects current-quarter earnings between $1.36 and $1.60 per share, while analysts were looking for $1.50 per share. The company forecast revenue of $4.45 billion to $4.8 billion, for a midpoint of $4.625 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $4.59 billion.
Revenue increased 16% in the second quarter from $3.82 billion in the same period a year earlier. Sales in the company’s analog chip business, its largest, rose 18% to $3.5 billion, surpassing the StreetAccount estimate of $3.39 billion for the segment.
Net income rose 15% to $1.3 billion, or $1.41 per share, from $1.13 billion, or $1.22 per share, a year ago.
Texas Instruments is a key supplier of legacy semiconductors for automotive and industrial uses.
As of Tuesday’s close, Texas Instruments shares were up 15% for the year on broader market optimism for chips. In June, the company said it would spend $60 billion to expand chipmaking factories in Texas and Utah, a move that was praised by the Trump administration in its push to bring more technology manufacturing to the U.S.
Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon, takes the stage during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Dec. 4, 2024.
The meeting between Trump and Bezos, one of the world’s richest men, lasted for more than an hour, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the conversation was private.
Amazon declined to comment on the meeting. A spokesperson for Bezos didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The nature and exact timing of the visit couldn’t be learned.
A Gulfstream G700 private jet linked to Bezos landed in Dulles, Virginia, outside Washington, on July 14 before taking off the next day, according to Jack Sweeney, a programmer who tracks flight data from jets owned by Elon Musk, Bill Gates and others.
Bezos, who also owns rocket company Blue Origin, has cozied up to Trump during his second term in the White House. Trump frequently hurled insults at Bezos during his first term, largely because of the Amazon founder’s ownership of The Washington Post.
Read more CNBC Amazon coverage
Bezos joined a swath of tech CEOs on stage at Trump’s inauguration in January after donating $1 million to his inaugural fund.
The Trump administration praised Bezos for his decision to revamp the Post’s editorial pages to focus on “personal liberties and free markets.”
In April, Trump said Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021, was “terrific” and “a good guy” after the billionaire assured Trump that the e-commerce giant had no plans to display tariff-related surcharges on its website.
More recently, Bezos has reportedly sought to capitalize on the dramatic falling-out between Trump and Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help Trump win a second White House term and previously led the government-slashing initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency.
Bezos competes with Musk, who is the CEO of SpaceX, through Blue Origin and Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low-Earth orbit satellite internet venture.
After Trump and Musk’s relationship soured, Bezos spoke with Trump on several occasions, while Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp traveled to the White House, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The conversations centered in part on government contracts, according to the Journal.
Amazon logo on a brick building exterior in San Francisco on Aug. 20, 2024.
Smith Collection | Gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Amazon plans to acquire wearables startup Bee AI, the company confirmed, in the latest example of tech giants doubling down on generative artificial intelligence.
Bee, based in San Francisco, makes a $49.99 wristband that appears similar to a Fitbit smartwatch. The device is equipped with AI and microphones that can listen to and analyze conversations to provide summaries, to-do lists and reminders for everyday tasks.
Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo announced in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday that the company will join Amazon.
“When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you,” Zollo wrote. “What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon.”
Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller confirmed the company’s plans to acquire Bee. The company declined to comment on the terms of the deal.
Read more CNBC tech news
Amazon has introduced a flurry of AI products, including its own set of Nova models, Trainium chips, a shopping chatbot and a marketplace for third-party models called Bedrock.
The company has also overhauled its Alexa voice assistant, released more than a decade ago, with AI capabilities as Amazon looks to chip away at the success of rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini.
Ring, the smart home security company owned by Amazon, has also looked to introduce generative AI in some of its products.
Amazon previously experimented in the wearables space through a health and fitness-focused product called Halo. It sunset the Halo in 2023 as part of a broader cost-cutting review.
Other tech companies have launched AI-infused consumer hardware with mixed success.
There’s the Rabbit R1, a small square gadget that costs $199 and uses an OpenAI model to answer questions, as well as the AI pin developed by Humane, which later sold to HP.
Meta‘s Ray-Ban smart glasses have grown in popularity since the first version was released in 2021.
OpenAI in May acquired Jony Ive‘s AI devices startup io for roughly $6.4 billion. The company reportedly plans to develop a screen-free device.