Is Twitter’s future NFT-heavy? The latest feature allows users to buy and sell NFTs via Tweet
As the internet rages and rejoices over the confirmation of Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter takeover, the social media company has provided a timely glimpse into the future. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it involves cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
In an integration, Twitter has called NFT Tweet Tiles, users will be allowed to buy, sell and display NFTs through tweets. The feature, which is still being tested, has an enlarged panel for displaying an NFT artwork and offers a click button to marketplace listings.
Currently, the development only works with four marketplaces; sports-focused Jump.trade, art-centric Rarible, gaming haven Dapper Labs, and Magic Eden, the largest marketplace on the Solana blockchain.
The choice of initial partners is interesting not only for the number of blockchain networks it includes – namely Ethereum, Tezos, Polygon, Flow, Solana and Immutable X – but also for the absence of OpenSea, often referred to as the world’s first and largest. NFT marketplace.
The news was announced in a tweet by Twitter Dev, and while Musk’s personal involvement is unknown and seemingly unlikely, Magic Eden tweeted its gratitude to the company’s new owner “for making this happen.”
For now, NFT Tweet Tiles may be little more than an aesthetic upgrade for Twitter’s legion of NFT followers, but it could potentially point to the direction the San Francisco-based company is headed. Twitter posted a net loss of $221 million in 2021 and has struggled with profitability issues for years. Beyond cutting expenses, including an expected massive layoff, Twitter needs to bolster advertising, which accounted for more than 90 percent of revenue last year, and find new revenue streams. Closer connections with NFT marketplaces may well tick both boxes.
The integration presents a format that is likely to encourage NFT platforms to advertise on Twitter and potentially for social media companies to take a cut of sales in the future.
The move continues Twitter’s push to cater to the NFT and crypto communities following the launch of hexagonal NFT profile pictures and media reports earlier in October that claimed the company was developing a crypto wallet prototype.
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