Facing lagging user growth and growing competition from younger leaner social apps - Twitter is considering introducing a new paid subscription option for Tweetdeck.

This would affect business owners and other 'power users' who could be required to pay to access an enhanced version of the tool which is used to manage accounts.

There is no indication that regular account holders will be affected if a paid service is introduced.

The micro-blogging site has struggled to convert its size and influence into profits.

A spokesperson from the company said, "We regularly conduct user research to gather feedback about people’s Twitter experience and to better inform our product investment decisions, and we're exploring several ways to make Tweetdeck even more valuable for professionals."

It added that the service would, "provide valuable viewing, posting, and signalling tools like alerts, trends and activity analysis, advanced analytics, and composing and posting tools all in one customisable dashboard."

The premium service would also be, "designed to make it easier than ever to keep up with multiple interests, grow your audience, and see even more great content and information in real-time."

Its latest financial report for the final months of 2016 showed that its number of monthly active users climbed by 2 million to 319 million.

The San Francisco-based company suffered losses of $457m in 2016, despite cutting its workforce by 9%. Since floating on the stock market in 2013, it has lost close to $2.8bn.