News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

Media Publishers Could Charge Users Based on Article Clicks

Media publishers could charge users based on article clicks as soon as next month, Twitter Inc. CEO Elon Musk announced on Saturday.

“Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click,” the billionaire stated in a Twitter post.

The purpose of the new function is to provide a new option for readers who don’t have a monthly subscription to the media but still want to read an article from the media occasionally. Meanwhile, the media can benefit from this plan through some extra revenue.

It will be a “major win-win” for both media outlets and the public, Musk said.

Greg Autry, a professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, applauded Twitter’s new move and said it may help the media get more subscribers.
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John Tegland—a verified Twitter user who claims to be a former U.S. Marine Corps pilot—said the new function is the electronic version of buying a single newspaper or magazine.
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However, some are worried that the new feature will benefit the publishers only but not the readers as they have to pay to read an article.

New York Transit Authority Drops Twitter
for Real-Time Alerts, Says It’s ‘No Longer Reliable’

New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA) has announced that it’s “saying goodbye” to Twitter as a platform for delivering service alerts and information, citing reliability problems.

For over a decade, MTA has provided real-time information on service outages, delays, and other important transit updates for its 1.3 million Twitter followers.
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“For the MTA, Twitter is no longer reliable for providing the consistent updates riders expect,” the agency said in a tweet Friday. “So as of today, we’re saying goodbye to it for service alerts and information.”

The agency listed a series of other ways subway, train, and bus riders can get reliable transit information. This includes through its mta.info site, via email and text alerts, and by calling 511.

API Charge
The move comes after Twitter approached the cash-strapped agency with a request to pay a $50,000 fee to maintain access to Twitter’s API (application programming interface), an MTA official told The New York Post.

“The MTA does not pay tech platforms to publish service information and has built redundant tools that provide service alerts in real time,” MTA Acting Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara said in a Thursday statement.

MTA has a $600 million budget deficit this year that’s expected to grow to $3 billion in 2025.