Twitter has started rolling out a new Tip Jar feature on its Android and iOS apps, which (as rumored) will allow users to send money directly to their favorite accounts.
To
use the tip jar, simply tap on the freshly added dollar bill icon next to
someone’s username when viewing their profile on one of Twitter’s mobile apps.
Users will be able to toggle the tip jar feature, too (for those individuals or
organizations that don’t want people just sending them cash out of the blue).
Android users will also be able to send money in Twitter’s Clubhouse-like
Spaces.
Tip
Jar supports a variety of payment options and links: Bandcamp, Cash App,
Patreon, Paypal, and Venmo. Twitter is using those services’ external payment
processors for transactions; it doesn’t take a cut. All English language
Twitter users can send tips starting today, but only a select group (including
“creators, journalists, experts, and nonprofits”) can turn on the feature to
accept money for now.
show your love, leave a tip
— Twitter (@Twitter) May 6, 2021
now testing Tip Jar, a new way to give and receive money on Twitter 💸
more coming soon... pic.twitter.com/7vyCzlRIFc
Users
have been using Twitter to solicit tips or Patreon follows for years — ending
viral threads with a shoutout to a SoundCloud account is practically a meme at
this point. So it makes sense that Twitter would be looking to streamline the
feature as part of its own app.
Notably,
the only way to access Tip Jar right now is through navigating to a user’s
profile. That means sending someone some money for a truly fantastic tweet will
still take a bit more effort than, say, just liking or retweeting it.
Huge heads up on PayPal Twitter Tip Jar. If you send a person a tip using PayPal, when the receiver opens up the receipt from the tip you sent, they get your *address*. Just tested to confirm by tipping @yashar on Twitter w/ PayPal and he did in fact get my address I tipped him. https://t.co/R4NvaXRdlZ pic.twitter.com/r8UyJpNCxu
— Rachel Tobac (@RachelTobac) May 6, 2021
There
are already some issues that Twitter will have to work out. As spotted by
Rachel Tobac, sending tips through Paypal using Tip Jar currently allows
whoever is sending the money to see the recipient’s address, which is a
worrying security issue that Twitter and Paypal will hopefully resolve soon.
In an
update later Thursday, Twitter’s Support
account acknowledged the issue, tweeting that it was “updating
our tipping prompt and Help Center to make it clearer that other apps may share
info between people sending/receiving tips, per their terms.”
Twitter
also promised there was “more coming soon,” so it’s likely that we’ll continue
to hear more about how Twitter is implementing tipping in the coming weeks and
months.
Update May 6th,
5:30pm: Added information on Paypal address
security issues using Tip Jar.
Update May 6th 8:27PM
ET: Added additional detail from
Twitter about shared information
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