It’s astonishing to consider that we are discussing the publication of a book on Twitter, considering that the platform initially restricted users to only 140 characters for each post.
Earlier today, an individual observed that Twitter had rebranded its Notes feature as Articles. This feature, found within the Creator Studio tools, enabled users to compose longer-form content on the platform. Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk, mentioned that Notes would undergo a significant transformation—not merely a name change to Articles.
According to Musk, Articles will eventually allow users to share “lengthy, intricate articles with diverse media,” and users might even have the ability to “publish a book if desired.”
It is intriguing to witness Twitter’s efforts to introduce long-form written content to the platform, particularly following the recent closure of Revue, Twitter’s competitor to Substack. It appears that Revue might have a second chance in the form of Articles, with its distinctive features, such as media integration into posts, being more deeply integrated into Twitter itself.
I wonder if Musk’s objective is to create a more closely interconnected competitor to Substack or something even grander. While news plays a significant role on Twitter, articles are typically consumed externally. Musk may be exploring options to provide publishers with a means to directly publish news within the platform, akin to integrating articles with aggregation services like Apple News and Google News.
As of now, there is no confirmed release date for the new version of Articles. Nonetheless, it will be fascinating to observe its usage once it becomes available. Considering that Twitter has already begun sharing ad revenue with Twitter Blue creators, it is not far-fetched to envision the company integrating this approach with longer-form content like articles.
Personally, I don’t think I would ever publish a book on Twitter. However, the prospect of earning a portion of ad revenue or receiving direct payments for articles, similar to Substack, is an intriguing proposition.