We plan to monetise through paid premium features, none of which have been included in the first public version of the product. So previously didn't think it was relevant to talk monetisation!
One point against my argument might be reddit gold kind of stuff. They are more of a status signal. You can monetize status signals.
In terms of monetising utility, Beeper/Texts.com seem to be getting a lot of attention, where they charge 10$ a month for their interoperable chat service. People seem to be happy to pay to have a centralised client for all their chats.
Otherwise as you've mentioned you have status signals, which is the case for Twitter Blue too. There's also the dating apps.