Elon Musk says Twitter Blue will cost $8, and include blue tick verification | Mashable.
Elon Musk says Twitter Blue will cost $8, and include blue tick verification
Elon Musk has said that Twitter verification will soon be a Twitter Blue subscription perk. Credit: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto Via Getty Images |
Twitter's new CEO Elon Musk has tweeted that Twitter Blue's monthly subscription fee will increase to $8, and include a blue checkmark verification badge as one of its perks. Soon we may be able to see who is terminally online and gullible enough to pay Twitter for the illusion of status.
"Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit," wrote Musk, demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of both Twitter verification and the feudal system. "Power to the people! Blue for $8/month."
This is an increase from Twitter Blue's current price of $4.99 per month, which itself was increased from its former monthly fee of $2.99 earlier this year. Though $8 is much less than the previously reported $20 per month that Twitter had been discussing, this still works out to be a price rise of 167 percent within a single year. Musk first floated the idea of an $8 monthly fee in an earlier tweet to Stephen King, the author being among the countless users who scorned Twitter's proposed $20 figure.
Musk also stated that verified status isn't the only perk that will soon be available with a Twitter Blue subscription. Accounts that sign up for Twitter Blue will also be shown half as many ads; be able to post longer video and audio; and their tweets will be prioritised in replies, mentions, and searches.
According to Musk, giving Twitter Blue users priority is somehow "essential to defeat spam/scam." In reality, he's installing a class system in which the voices of those who pay are amplified over those who don't. Musk is also assuming that companies aren't the most likely to pay for Twitter Blue, and won't simply monopolise replies until the whole platform is basically a microblogged billboard.
Previously Twitter verification was free, and only granted to "notable" accounts that are of public interest such as those belonging to "prominently recognized individual[s] or brands." In this way it helped combat disinformation by confirming that yes, that really was Donald Trump tweeting "covfefe," and no, @RealTaylorSwift isn't actually the real Taylor Swift.
The ability to purchase verified status would essentially render this tool useless, allowing any user to impersonate absolutely anybody with Twitter's stamp of approval. Musk is aware of this problem but apparently unconcerned, believing that such impersonation already occurs "very frequently."
Verified accounts impersonating others has been known to happen. In 2020, Australian satirical website The Chaser had its blue tick revoked after it changed the name and profile picture on its verified Twitter account to impersonate Donald Trump. The Chaser later got its tick back, before subsequently repeating the gag with other prominent figures in 2021.
However, such incidents appear relatively uncommon, possibly due in part to the fact that the difficulty in getting verified means few are willing to risk losing their badge. Making Twitter's blue tick an easily purchasable commodity is not unlikely to prompt an increase in disinformation.
According to Musk's tweets, an alternate tag will be added to accounts belonging to public figures, "which is already the case for politicians." So it's probably only a matter of time before that also becomes a status symbol Musk tries to sell. Currently, Twitter labels government and state-affiliated media accounts from countries such as the U.S., China, and Russia. Official accounts belonging to Australia's prime minister, New Zealand's prime minister, and the British royal family remain unlabeled, with only their blue tick to verify them.
The future of Twitter sounds pretty dire, though there's always the possibility that none of this actually comes to pass. After all, Musk is well known for his thoughtless tweets and failing to follow through. He's also been making a lot of noise to distract from the fact that he didn't want to buy Twitter in the first place.
But considering how vigorously Musk continues to push questionable ideas, I wouldn't hold out hope.
Go in a read about it first. Its not that big of a deal really. Its kind of a safety thing or so it looks to me. I dont use twitter but thinking I may now.
ReplyDeleteit's a massive admission of failure. Musk is advertiser toxin. And this is him finding out.
DeleteIf the service is free, you are the product, used by the platform and sold to the advertisers. Adding a fee will weed out the bottom feeders who expect something for nothing. Maybe it should be more...
ReplyDeleteA tick costs money but having it has no meaning anymore. Pointless
ReplyDeletehe going to make money and shut it down
DeleteOf course it has. It differentiates real accounts from clones and copy cats. The whole point it was setup in the first place.
DeleteIs it his first day in social? Users expect social for free and understand they will see ads as a result. I can’t think of a case where asking existing users to pay for a formerly free service worked out. Any MBAs out there got an example to contradict me?
ReplyDeleteif there aren’t, then you can thank him for starting a trend other sites might consider. If it’s successful, others might follow suit.  Many on social media, including certain content creators, who don’t have the check mark and would be willing to pay for it.
Deletehe didn’t start Twitter Blue, it already exists for a subscription. He is bumping up the price slightly and including a blue check, which is terrific as it will dilute the horrible blue check echo chamber of war mongering that currently exists.
DeleteI really can’t take this comment seriously.
DeleteAlmost every digital service starts this way now.
You’ve never used a free-trail, or alpha or beta use throughout your user experience?
Is it so unfathomable for a company to go from free-privileges to a pay-model for content benefits?
SaaS (software as a service) is a very common business model.
What about more popular services such as Amazon Prime, Disney+, or Hulu? They offer the widely known free-trail subscriptions for content.
$8 a month to label an account as an influencer is not outlandish if you profit from your opinions or commentary, or simply for vanity purposes. Almost every video game released today has some form of cosmetic system which people can trade money for pixel-privileges.
should have different colors blue to start 8$, red 20$ gold cost 20-30k platinum even more. He can make some of his money back .. lol
ReplyDeletehe might have Tesla buy Twitter.
DeleteThe people who currently have the blue checkmark are the ones providing the most popular content on the platform. For goodness sake, twitter should be paying THEM! Which of them would be so foolish as to stick around and be charged?!? 🤦♀️
ReplyDeleteWhy is it a bad idea? It's literally just a checkmark
ReplyDeleteLove it when billionaires beg for money.
ReplyDeleteDon't want any ticks, red, blue or spastic. Thanks anyhow.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone can pay for the blue checkmark, what's the "prestige" of having it?
ReplyDeletelike everything is not enough...
ReplyDeleteHe didn't say that you can buy the verified status, he said that being verified is gonna cost more than it did before. The rest is pure speculation because you guys seem to love to hate the guy. I do appreciate all the people stating that they are off the platform now. Yeah right 🥱🤷
ReplyDeleteThe left ecosystem is already working overtime to bring out a new social platform and drive the internet traffic toward it with constant negative press for Twitter and positive press for Bluesky. Remember how they crushed Gettr and Gab?
ReplyDeleteI think it sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWell, he has found another cash cow. Trump and his supporters will all pay the monthly fee. Musk's 82.4 million followers and Trump 88,964,791. $$$$$
Deleteso you’re assuming that Trump and Musk have different followers? 🤔
Deleteyou’re already paying for all the crap biden started since he took office. And here you are criticizing an $8 fee who chooses to use twitter blue.
DeleteTwitter has $13b in debt coming owe soon. Do you even economics, bro?
Deletehe’s assuming a lot of things.
Deleteyeah. Like how $8 is gonna make up for billions in lost ad revenue.
Delete$96 a year isn’t bad especially for a business
ReplyDelete😂
ReplyDeleteLol
ReplyDelete$$$
ReplyDeleteComing soon to Instagram lol?
ReplyDeleteI just deactivated my account and deleted the app! It felt so good! 
ReplyDeleteIt is a terrific idea.
ReplyDeleteAwkward!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for Twitter to crash and burn. Maybe they can start a go fund me for Elin like they're trying for Kanye.
ReplyDeleteTwitter died the day Musk announced his interest in the platform.
ReplyDeleteWell if u pay ur gonna have the right to speak ur mind ! On a free service they shut u up !
ReplyDeleteReally hope Twitter goes the way of myspacw
ReplyDeleteBot providers rejoice! 🙄
ReplyDeleteI thought he was gonna make all the media pay for an account? Which is a good idea it would maybe instructifies them from stopping with all the propaganda
ReplyDeleteIt's not like you can't have a regular FREE Twitter account. Lol. You just have more ads to look at. If you are doing business on Twitter then you can afford $8 for using their platform to make money / advertise, market your brand. People are so unreasonable. I buy and sell used computers and electronics on Facebook and if they implemented something like this to prevent scammers or bots posing as fake sellers and buyers trying to get you to give them the 6 digit number to steal your google account (linked to your Android phone hence linked to your facebook account) and hence your identity, I'd be totally down for it.
ReplyDeleteJust let Twitter burn 😂 utterly useless app anyway
ReplyDeleteTime to quit Twitter
ReplyDeleteIt's just 8 dollars ya cheap freeloaders!
ReplyDeletehttps://media1.tenor.co/images/1a58821c77a14a1c1c30dc783bb393ed/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=18466324
Deletenope no point about it 8$ is an extremely good price for verified users who are probably not living on the streets.
Deletehttps://media1.tenor.co/images/dc4c987a0b83d95cb16eb12f76c5746d/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=16881707
Deleteonly musk crush lads see it as prestigious or worthwhile. It's an admission of failure.
Deletehe's very smart. he wants to monetize it from a subscriber point of view.
ReplyDeletebit of a crush on elon, huh? 😂
Deletenope...not at all...I'm just looking at it from an investor perspective. Besides, I'm a man. I only have crushes on women.
Delete396.5 million Twitter users worldwide. If 5% of that population subscribed to Blue that’s an extra $158.6M Twitter didn’t have last year.
ReplyDeleteSpot on article! With his current path of allowing hate speech on his private platform though, he has to make up for loss of ad revenue, since a lot of companies wouldn't touch things like it. If he doesn't sort it out it is going to be a terrible investment for him.
ReplyDelete#quitthetwit
ReplyDeleteLies🤣
ReplyDeletePretty sure there is medication for that.
ReplyDeleteYea can't wait to troll those paying out of pocket for freedom 🤣
ReplyDeleteWHO CARES??!
ReplyDeleteI’m not paying an a$$hat billionaire any $
ReplyDeletehttps://media1.tenor.co/images/b08cbb129ef1252f35ee0c0025e0954b/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=20014410
ReplyDelete🤮🤮🤮
ReplyDeletehttps://media.tenor.co/images/163074a1754f98f8ee842d9514af7925/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM
ReplyDeleteHell no, already deactivated my account, goodbye
ReplyDeleteWho cares!
ReplyDeletehttps://media1.tenor.co/images/a34700281d5ab7c922389b51123012fe/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=20397128
ReplyDeleteBye bye Elon
ReplyDeletekeeps out the bots.
ReplyDeleteAnd how does a bot get a blue check?
DeleteMy point exactly!
DeleteHe sucks
ReplyDeleteWell, he has found another cash cow. Trump and his supporters will all pay the monthly fee. Musk's 82.4 million followers and Trump 88,964,791. $$$$$
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteNot going to happen.
ReplyDeletehttps://media1.tenor.co/images/42bbb8940675807e40d2bd9b6147a9d9/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=25518388
What happened to FREE speech? 🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteI don't know. How much do you pay a month to use your cell phone?
Deletehttps://giphy.com/gifs/stop-trump-never-9eLbjOcGOpmY8
DeletePerfect, dude.
DeleteTwitter is still free, that isn't changing. Verified twitter blue users already pay 4.99 a month.
DeleteNever used the cesspool that is Twitter & never will
ReplyDeletehttps://media.tenor.co/images/a1e13edc387be139062a2f43de63e35f/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=18317478
ReplyDeleteThrowing money away? Why?
ReplyDelete