As ads revenue is crashing, they want to be able to rely on something less easy to quantify in order to modulate it. Previously they had to pay x cents per click, now they can just divide the little they earn arbitrarily in order to keep in the green.
Funnily enough that's exactly what many full time microbloggers have been asking from Xitter for years. I always thought it was a silly idea and if you want to make money from your tweets print and sell them as a book like any other self-important celebrity or become a ghost writer for other people's Xitty microblogs. If you're that good, people will pay, surely.
I do give a shit, and at this point I want to see that platform taken down for good. Because otherwise it's a platform for nefarious shit and abuse. And no one needs that. Especially not the gullible.