Twitter has officially launched its Android and iOS applications with a new Tip Jar update that will (as rumored) enable users to directly transfer money to their preferred accounts.
To use the tip jar, press on the dollar bill icon next to the username of someone when viewing their profile on the smartphone application. Users may also modify the jar function (for persons or organizations that don’t want users to only submit money from the blue). In Twitter’s Clubhouses, Android users will also be able to submit money.
Payment choices and connections that are supported by Tip Jar are Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, Paypal, and Venmo. Twitter uses external payment providers from these systems for transactions; there is no commission. All English speakers on Twitter can submit tips from today, but only a certain community (including “creators, writers, experts, and nonprofits”) can allow the feature to accept money for the time being.
Users use Twitter to ask for advice or follow-up patterns for years. It is also sensible for Twitter to streamline the functionality as part of its own application. The only way in which Tip Jar can be accessed right now is via the profile of a customer. This means that it would take a little more than, say, just like or tweeting to give money to a genuinely awesome post.
Few problems have already been noticed by Twitter. As Rachel Tobac noticed, sending tips via Paypal through the use of Tip Jar allows anyone who sends the money to see the receiver’s address, a troubling problem that will hopefully be resolved by Twitter and Paypal shortly.
In a recent update, Twitter’s Support account recognized the issue, tweeting “updated our Tipping prompt and Help Center to make it transparent that other applications will exchange information with those that send/receive tips according to terms and conditions.”
Twitter has already promised that there will “be more soon,” but it is possible that in the coming weeks and months we will learn about Twitter’s tipping.
