Paid membership as engagement drivers

Current membership models in the U.S (X or Snapchat) use the basic formula: 

🤝 pay dollars, get features in return

Chinese models expand this with gamification. Paid memberships get you an initial baseline membership, but additional benefits are only unlocked with increased usage. This created engagement for paid users, which also increases. 

Ex: For $3.50/mo, Weibo VIP members can edit their posts, have fun stickers, access VIP emojis, etc (see chart below). Continued usage of Weibo unlocks more features such as pinning more than one post.