The newly appointed CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk has today revealed his plan to make the platform less reliant on advertisements. In a series of tweets he has announced that Twitter Blue which is currently offered at $4.99 per month in four countries will be increased to $8. The users will get an additional benefit in the form of the famous blue tick along with their profiles and Twitter will get a revenue stream to reward content creators.
Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit.
Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
Blue users will also get priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam along with the ability to post long video & audio. They will also see less ads as compared to the free users.
There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians. Moreover, the “Edit” feature that is currently enabled only for Blue users will be brought to everyone.
Industry experts are skeptical about making the verified accounts a feature that everyone can buy. Adding the verified check for everyone that pays will increase the issue of identifying spam/scam. It would have been much better to offer animated profile pictures and banners, or more customization in general instead.
