Whether you want to tip small business owners, emerging artists you admire, or your favorite creators whose Tweets you find entertaining — whoever you want to support, Tips is here to help you do it.
In May 2021, Twitter started experimenting with this feature with a small group of people on the platform, including journalists, creators, and more. Since then, Tips has become available on iOS and Android, and to everyone who is 18+ on Twitter, including in Nigeria and across the continent. It is a new way to monetize on Twitter and enables people on the service to send and receive funds as a token of appreciation.
Starting today, Twitter is adding the pan-African payment solutions Barter by Flutterwave and Paga as additional payment providers to Tips. Barter is a web and mobile app, from leading payments technology company, Flutterwave, that lets you send and receive money from abroad instantly, and safely, at affordable rates.
Paga is a payment and financial services ecosystem for Africa. Their consumer app enables consumers to access and use money in the most convenient way for them.
How does it work?
Turning on Tips adds an icon next to your profile, which will now also have a link to Barter and Paga, for quick and easy person-to-person tipping. Tap the icon, and you’ll see the payment services or platforms that the account has enabled, you can select whichever you prefer.
Once you select the service you want to use, you’ll be taken off Twitter to the selected app to send funds. Twitter takes no cut. Barter and Paga join Chipper, which was rolled out in 2021, as payment services available for people in various African countries.
Adding your Bitcoin address to Tips
Additionally, when you enable Tips on your profile, you can also add your Bitcoin address. People can copy your address and paste it into a Bitcoin wallet of their choice to send you a payment directly.
Commenting on Barter’s inclusion as a payment provider to Tips, CEO and Founder of Flutterwave, Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola said, “As a frequent Twitter user, creators, artists and businesses add immense value to my experience on the platform —creating an avenue to reward or tip them is a good step in the right direction by Twitter. So we’re excited to be partnering with them to create a safe, fast and easy way to tip these amazing creators through Barter by Flutterwave.
“We have the reach and abilities to enable creators from Africa to receive tips from parts of the world. I will likely be one of the biggest users of Tips, and that’s because it’s an awesome feature that has huge potential for the creator economy in Africa.”
Tayo Oviosu, the Founder and CEO of Paga, said, “Our mission at Paga is to simplify payments for individuals and businesses. Through this partnership with Twitter, via Tips, we can create an effective way for Creators to get paid into their Paga accounts, directly from Twitter.
“As an avid Twitter user, I’m thrilled about this partnership. Creators are a key demographic we are building for at Paga, and this partnership allows us to enable them to effectively monetize their work. We are really excited about solving payments in the most innovative ways, especially with companies such as Twitter”.
Through the payment partner interface, people will be able to support individuals and organizations across Nigeria and the sub-Saharan region via multiple modes of payment including UPI, credit and debit cards, net banking, wallets and more.
The inclusion of additional payment providers to Twitter’s Tips feature represents an expansion of access to pathways for people on the continent to get paid, as Twitter expands its Africa presence since setting up operations in Ghana.
It also marks a major step in Digital currencies that encourage more people to participate in the economy and help people send each other money across borders and with as little friction as possible.
