Twitter Blue, as reported earlier, is getting a revamp, and now, Elon Musk has revealed more details about what the new Twitter Blue could look like. If users wish to have the coveted “blue tick” verification badge on the platform, then they will need to pay $8 per month for it.
Less than a week after he took ownership of the micro-blogging platform, fired a bunch of Twitter executives (Twitter’s CMO Leslie Berland is the latest executive to leave), and appointed himself the CEO of the social media company, Musk informed that Twitter blue will be getting a hike in its price and will cost $8/month.
This is an increase of over $3 from the current $4.99 that subscribers pay monthly to access Twitter’s first-ever subscription service. Twitter Blue, launched last year, gives subscribers access to a host of premium features such as the ability to undo tweets (within a given time limit) and edit their published tweets within a given window.
Apart from an increased subscription, users will also have access to new perks. If you subscribe, then you will fewer ads and have the ability to post longer videos and audios. Your replies, mentions, and search will be given priority (which Musk believes to be “essential to defeat spam/scam”) as well as bypass paywalls for publishers. And if there are any public figures among the subscribers, then they will have a secondary tag below their name, which is already the case with politicians.
According to Musk, this will give Twitter a stream of revenue to reward content creators. Though, there is sizeable opposition to letting people buy verification badges as against earlier practice of giving it to noteworthy personalities.
Previous media reports suggested that the verification badge, which users could get for free, would soon be something that they will have to shell out the bucks for as Twitter Blue is being expanded and reorganized alongside a revamp in the verification process. Now, it is clear that unless you subscribe to Twitter Blue, you will not get the badge. Apparently, existing verified users will have 90 days to register for Twitter Blue, else their badges will be revoked.
Musk, in a tweet, compared the current verification system of Twitter to a “lords & peasants” system, and in a bid to bring “power to the people,” hiked the price of Twitter Blue, which will include paid verification and other features. The final price for other countries, however, will be adjusted as per the purchasing power of consumers in those markets, which means that we could soon look to a global roll out of Twitter’s subscription service. Blue is currently operating in a handful of countries – US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Here’s Musk’s Tweeting spree around Twitter Blue:
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
