Here's how Quora's subscription features benefit creators

Back in August 2021, knowledge sharing platform Quora had announced two features enabling monetisation for their users. With this, the platform which is majorly used for knowledge sharing, and factual content creation, mainly in the form of text entered the field of subscriptions.

Adam D'Angelo

Adam D’Angelo, CEO, Quora, in a post shared on August 5, 2021, explained the two options the platform was providing, with the aim to provide the creators with a smooth income stream. He stated that the company plans on building an ecosystem where it will be easier for the creators to create a close-knit community and monetise through them. The subscription is currently live in 25 countries around the world, including India.

Quora launched subscription options for the creators to strengthen the community and the flow of knowledge, which is their main forte apart from creating a social network. Previously advertising on the website, brand collaborations was the main way of earning revenue for the creators as well as the platform.

D’Angelo said, “Today, we are launching two new subscription options for creators. We want to make sharing knowledge more financially sustainable for creators, which will in turn let them share more knowledge with the world. This is important to our mission, since even though many people are motivated and able to spend their time writing on Quora just to share their knowledge, many others could share much more with financial justification to do so. We want to empower as many people as possible to share their knowledge, whether they are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, since we believe the vast majority of knowledge in the world is still not available on the internet.”

The first option for the creators to monetise their content is ‘Publishing posts/answers under Quora+’: The creator can create subscriber-only content and earn money based on engagement (read time, etc) from their followers who are subscribed to Quora+. The earning mechanism is similar to Medium, the earning potential is higher due to a larger potential subscriber base.

The second option that they introduced is – ‘Offering a Space subscription’ - Subscription Spaces provide a members-only experience that allows a community to form. The rate is $1/month, and the creator earns around 90% of their subscription fees. Subscribers get special benefits/privileges, for example, getting access to all of the content - both free and paid - in the space and the opportunity to discuss answers with the creator.

D’Angelo had further said that although the subscription plans were being announced, users would still be able to use the platform for free like earlier, based on the ad revenue model.

“While there are now more options for creating subscription content, we expect the majority of Quora’s content to remain free. If monetisation isn’t for you, you can keep using Quora like you always have. We also aren’t changing how ad revenue sharing works, so if you’re happy with that, nothing will change. There’s no one right way to use Quora, so whether you're here to earn income, build a membership community, find or answer questions, or just have fun, we want you to find it on Quora. As always, we're listening to you, so let us know what you think. We want this to be the best place to write on the internet and your feedback is essential to make that happen.”

Recently, Instagram also launched a subscription model in the US to test how will it work in the creator ecosystem. As of now, only a few creators are enjoying this option but Instagram plans on growing the subscription space among creators. Last year, Twitter also launched a subscription option for their users known as Super Follow.