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Twitter has started two new features, Super Follows and Ticketed Spaces that the company says will help creators make money from their followers. Does that mean you can live a decent life using the social media app? Probably not, unless you already have a huge Twitter follower who wants to consume your content at a high price. Here’s how the new features work.

Super Follows and Ticketed Spaces are initially only possible by invitation

Great followers is similar to Patreon in that it allows content creators to charge their followers $ 2.99, $ 4.99, or $ 9.99 per month for access to exclusive content. What that additional content could be is up to the creators, but it could be bonus tweets, access to third-party community groups, or a subscription to a newsletter.

Paid places is intended as a paid competitor to the audio hangout app Clubhouse and allows you to charge users between $ 1 and $ 999 for access to exclusive audio rooms within Twitter. Technically speaking, Spaces, which was launched in the beta phase last spring, already exists for users with at least 600 followers; The part “with tickets” (which is currently only accessible to a few) is new.

To access these features now, users must have a large number of followers (10,000 for Super Followers, 1,000 for Ticketed Spaces), be active on Twitter, be 18 years old and live in the US A full list of eligibility requirements for Super Follow can be found become Here, and for reserved places, Here. (If you qualify but are not accepted, you will be placed on a waiting list until the services open to more users, according to Twitter).

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You can see if you are eligible for Ticketed Spaces (available on iOS and Android) or Super Follows (iOS only) by logging into the Twitter mobile app and looking for the Monetization option in the left sidebar.

While better than nothing, the pay isn’t great

Twitter says they will only take a 3% cut in your potential earnings, but that increases to as much as 20% if you make more than $ 50,000 on the site. That’s just the beginning – how Tech Crunch points this out, both Google and Apple are making an additional 30% cut on all in-app purchases on mobile platforms. And when you factor in federal and state taxes, that’s another 23% (on average) Part of your remaining income. Assuming you’re lucky enough to make $ 70,000 on Twitter, you’d see an after-tax profit of less than $ 30,000.

In contrast, Patreon only takes 5% -12% of a creator’s earnings with no additional in-app purchase fees (as it is a web-based platform). For this reason, it’s hard not to see Super Follows as a glorified tip rather than a direct competitor, at least for now.

Bottom line

As with the monetization tools of other social media platforms (from Tick ​​tock to Instagram) Unless you’re a celebrity or already have a large fan base, you probably won’t make a lot of money from these apps – and of course you need to produce even more content to make the subscriptions worthwhile for your followers.

Also, you have to assume that you are actually getting paid subscribers, which is hardly guaranteed. Twitter estimates that around 2% of your followers are willing to pay for your Tweets or other content, but that’s just a guess – the features are new so there isn’t a lot of data to refer to and the People may not be willing to pay for Twitter. One would guess that a popular web cartoon would fare better than an account that is mostly partisan snark, but who knows for sure? It’s twitter.

Photo: Tero Vesalainen (Shutterstock)

The pandemic is waning here in the United States (At least for now), the work Market is slowly showing signs of recovery, and millions of workers have fled their jobs in what many headlines call “The big resignation. ”You might be one of those workers who settle up for what you want from work, and although it can be easy to get lost in romance, closing the door on a chapter in your professional life – especially when your job is in place hated – you should have a few things about the time between your old job and what’s next.

How to switch between jobs

While it is advisable to have another job before going out, some people prefer to live more dangerously. If you quit because of a repressive boss or an adamant demand that resulted in burnout, then chances are you made the right decision despite missing the safety net. You are likely jumping into the void exploring new opportunities and pursuing areas of personal growth. According to career coach Nancy Leighton, make this clear to anyone with whom you will be interviewing in the future.

She said to Lifehacker:

If you quit a job before you have another, you need to explain really well why you made that decision. For example, it may not be because of your terrible boss, but because you were interested in volunteering or taking classes to explore another interest and / or possible career change.

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Leighton notes, as reflected in previous Lifehacker coverage, Never quit your job without a plan. Part of that plan, she says, may be developing new skills and pursuing areas of professional interest that have long interested you but haven’t had the opportunity to familiarize yourself with. “Remember that the longer you become vacant between jobs, the less desirable you are as a candidate, unless you are working on gaining new skills through additional training or volunteer work.”

However, be prepared that your sabbatical will be longer than expected, even if the job market is strong.

Half a year is the time threshold that “does not require excessive explanation” for a future employer.

How long can you take a break from work?

“Don’t take too much time,” says Marc cenedella, the founder of the Leet Resumes résumé service. “While the current market is very strong, people who choose to stay more than a few months may be at a disadvantage in the near future.”

These drawbacks are both traditional – it’s easier to find a job when you have a job – and time-dependent. “While the labor market is doing really well (unemployment is back at the March 2020 level),” says Leighton, “there is also a lot of movement now and the same rules always apply in areas where there is a lot of competition.”

To this end, Cenedella recommends that an ideal break should be around two to three months, but should never be longer than six months. Half a year is the time threshold that “does not require excessive explanation” for a future employer.

But always plan and budget accordingly. If you plan to take three months off work, allocate a budget for about six months because, well, things happen. “Sometimes the best plans don’t go as planned,” says Leighton. After all, when you quit a job that stole your zest for life, you’ll want to look out for a job that you think you will at least enjoy.

The benefits you get from a job are also a big factor so quitting if it means foregoing health insurance is not really advisable. Being able to pay for health care out of pocket – which is notoriously expensive and could be a strain on your budget – is one thing, but foregoing health care may only be possible for those who are beyond theirs after leaving Spouses can complete a plan.

Part of quitting a job requires understanding that unemployment isn’t just about sleeping in and attending matinees.

How to charge after finishing a job

Part of quitting a job requires understanding that unemployment isn’t just about sleeping in and attending matinees. Certainly you can, and probably should, but the concept of “recharge” is best understood as a process of reorientation. Think long and hard about where your career should go. If you’ve quit your job and gone nowhere, you owe it to yourself to ponder this big, scary, and exciting question.

Learning something new, whether it be doing something through volunteering or taking classes that introduce you to another profession, is certainly one way to achieve it. Hopefully it will help you not only feel charged, but also ready to tackle whatever lies ahead.

Apple Podcasts is the default podcast app for many iOS users, but it has the latest iOS 14 updates made it an unbearable mess. Users have dealt with bugs, lost subscriptions, delayed episode availability, and poor performance for months, and each patch seems to break as many things as it fixes. It has also made the platform difficult for podcast creators, especially those who rely on Apple Podcast’s new paid subscription features for revenue.

Many of these issues will reportedly be fixed once iOS 15 is live, but the stable build is still months away. Fortunately, if you’re tired of those past headaches, you don’t have to stick with Apple Podcasts – podcasts are growing in popularity, and as a result, there are more podcast managers on the App Store than ever before.

We’ve been on this beat for a while and have a few definite recommendations for the best apps for managing podcasts on your iPhone and / or iPad (and maybe even Android or desktop), as well as a few backup suggestions for those looking for a newer Find a podcast listening experience.

Pocket Casts is the podcast app to beat

Image: pocket casts

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Platforms: Free for iOS and Android; Plus subscription ($ 1 / month or $ 10 / year) for iOS, Apple Watch, Android, Mac, Windows, and the web.

Pocket Casts brings together almost all of the useful features found in pretty much every other podcast manager, as well as many that are unique. The app also makes them available through a sleek interface that is easy to use – and best of all, it’s free.

Some of the great features include audio enhancement options: built-in “volume boost” makes it easier to hear people’s voices while background music or noise is reduced; “Trim Silences” cuts off long pauses; and you can adjust the playback speed between 0.5x and 3x (and this does not affect the pitch).

Screenshot: Mike Epstein

Pocket Casts users can sync their subscriptions and play position across multiple devices, and the app has robust options for finding new podcasts – including the ability to search for episodes so you can find all the podcasts that talked about a particular topic – and view your listening history. You can also play third-party media files stored on your device and set sleep timers that will pause your podcast if you hear it before bed.

The free version is packed with features, but not perfect. For example, the playlist and filter options could be more robust. You can queue a playlist however you want, or filter your podcast subscriptions and the list of downloaded episodes using a small selection of preset categories, but you can’t sort your subscriptions by topic or create your own self-updating playlists. Given the many features Pocket Casts has to offer, it seems strange that this type of customization is lacking.

Despite this annoying problem, we like the way Pocket Casts looks and feels. Not only does the app cover all of the basics well, but it also has some customizable gesture options (like setting a swipe left to archive episodes) and even a dark theme.

The free version of Pocket Casts is available for Android and iOS and includes all of the features we’ve discussed so far, but there’s also a premium Pocket Casts Plus option if you want access to more features and broader device support. For either $ 1 a month or $ 10 a year, Plus subscribers get access to the Mac, Windows, web, and standalone Apple Watch versions of Pocket Casts, plus 10GB of cloud storage accessible via all your connected devices can access.

Cloudy is a great alternative, although the options for exploration could be better

Screenshot: Mike Epstein

Platforms: iOS (including Apple Watch) (free)

Before Pocket Casts went free, Overcast was our number one pick among podcast managers. To be clear, it’s still one of the best podcast apps out there, and an excellent alternative to Pocket Casts (let alone the official Apple app).

Overcast has it all – you can slow down or speed up episodes, the app automatically holds your seat if you stop listening in the middle, and you can create an on-the-fly playlist or listen to any podcast you want on a continuous stream with just a few taps downloaded. More importantly, these features are all intuitive and easy to use.

Screenshot: Mike Epstein

Even information that is normally spilled, like an episode’s show notes – which often includes timecodes and other helpful information – is easily accessible with a single tap. Overcast has the same volume and silence trim settings as Pocket Casts, plus some nice quality of life options like the ability to add Siri shortcuts and adjust headphone, remote, and dashboard controls.

What sets Overcast apart – and its main advantage over Pocket Casts – is its simple and robust playlist creation tools. You can put together individual episodes, group podcasts by length, or simply bundle subscriptions as makes sense to you.

On the negative side, Overcast is ad-supported, but I find their ads low-key and – Hot Take Alert – I actually think they make the app better. Listen to me: if there’s one aspect of Overcast that could be actively improved, it’s the app’s lack of detection options, which is limited to repackaging Apple podcast charts and redesigning a few other podcast publisher hubs.

Overcast’s ads relate almost entirely to podcasts. While they don’t offer a guarantee of quality, they’re really the only way to use the app to draw attention to a show that isn’t yet a hit.

Like Pocket Casts, there is a premium version of Overcast. For $ 9.99 per year, you can remove the ads, get an alternate logo, and upload files that aren’t available through iTunes or RSS.

The best of the rest

While it’s hard to recommend using any other than the above two apps, there are a few apps that deserve credit for their novel features – and for being more reliable than anything Apple does with Apple Podcasts.

Procast

Procast, a relative newcomer to the field, is a good choice if you like to tweet or share your thoughts on your favorite shows – a built-in clip function allows you to cut out a podcast to add to a tweet or text. It also has a handy “swipe to your inbox” feature that lets you add episodes to your queue with a simple swipe. Procast is a solid choice for iOS, but Android users can also take a look.

Breaker

Breaker is a relatively simple podcast player on the surface, but its built-in, time-coded commentary (similar to Soundcloud commentary) gives users a place to discuss podcasts with other fans. It’s a novel concept for a podcasting app, and it gives listeners the ability to chat and have conversations about their favorite shows outside of places like Twitter and Reddit. Breaker is available on iOS and Android.

iCatcher!

Finally, our newest backup pick is iCatcher !. In contrast to Procast and Breaker, iCatcher does nothing “new” in the field of podcast apps; It’s just a solid, reliable podcast player that has many of the features of Pocket Casts and Overcast, albeit in a slightly less slick package. Almost every core playback feature imaginable is available, the user interface is simple, and you can sync your subscriptions and playlists across multiple iPhones or iPads using iCloud. And iCatcher’s unique and customizable gesture controls! we wouldn’t miss it – including the ability to jump forward a full two minutes by tracing an “L” shape on the screen. It’s also the product of a single developer who is easy to contact with bug reports, and it releases performance-enhancing, bug-fixing updates on a regular basis.

This story was originally published on 11/27/18 and updated on 9/19/19 to reflect the fact that Pocket Casts is now available for free and has become our top recommendation. It was updated again on 7/1/2021 with a new competitor pick, iCatcher !, and updated feature information for Pocket Casts, Overcast, Procast and Breaker.