What You Need To Know Now That Twitter’s Blue Checkmarks Are Back
Social media platform Twitter is relaunching its subscription service this week. Since its recent acquisition by Elon Musk, it has undergone several new updates to try and entice new users. Twitter is the worst-performing social media site, falling behind giants such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
To make the social media site more exclusive, Twitter is relaunching its Twitter Blue Service. Subscribing to the revamped service will offer users a chance to become “Blue Tick” verified and access specific subscription content. This access will cost a monthly fee of $8 if using a web browser or $11 if using Twitter Blue on an iPhone.
Users who subscribe to their new service will be given prominence on the platform over free users. Subscribers will top every comment, mention, or search section first. This feature will interest people and influencers who use social media for employment and work. Twitter announced that this feature would be available soon on their platform.
As this new subscription service has been under many reviews over the last few months, the “blue tick” service is only available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. This service will expand to other countries once it has developed a business model that works with its new vision. Users who change their primary information, such as their username, display name, or photo, will have their blue tick removed temporarily while their account is reviewed.
Twitter has stated that giving this priority to subscribers would help reduce the number of fake and bot accounts that overwhelmed the social media giants over the last few years. Spam and bot accounts are a massive problem for owner Elon Musk, who nearly forego buying Twitter due to his concerns over them.
Twitter Blue subscribers can avail of a range of other features if they choose to sign up, including the ability to edit tweets up to thirty minutes after they have posted, less advertising, and the ability to construct longer tweets than 160 characters. Also, it is rumored that they will introduce a color-coded verification scheme that will give business accounts a gold tick and government accounts a grey one.
While the subscription service is one that many users will sign up for, Twitter has yet to explain why it is more expensive to join on an iPhone than on any other device. Twitter’s owner Elon Musk has been openly criticizing Apple for the massive cut it takes from apps that sign up to be displayed on their Apple App Store. Apple can take up to a 30% cut on every sale through its app platform.
Musk has stated that Twitter’s long-term plan was to be less dependent on advertising, which made up over 90% of its revenue last year. The social media platform needed a revamp as it was starting to become as irrelevant as MySpace and Bebo, as giants like TikTok and Instagram are changing with what their users want. While Elon Musk can be controversial, there is no doubt he is a great businessman, and Twitter needs a visionary like him.
