Twitter Inc on Saturday rolled in its new feature of charging $7.99 a month for its ‘Blue Checkmark’ service, which includes its sought-after “verified” badge if users sign up now. The development comes days after new Twitter owner Elon Musk announced subscription services for the blue verification marks.
“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,” Musk had said in a tweet, adding that the price will be adjusted by “country proportionate to purchasing power parity.”
A blue check mark next to a person’s user name on the social media platform means Twitter has confirmed that the account belongs to the person or company claiming it. Twitter is currently free for most users.
“Starting today, we’re adding great new features to Twitter Blue, and have more on the way soon. Get Twitter Blue for $7.99/month if you sign up now,” the company said in a statement.
(Image: News18)
Launching Twitter Blue at $7.99, the social media giant stated “Blue checkmark: Power to the people” subscription allows users to get blue checkmarks “just like celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.”
It also listed other features that will follow soon, which include better ads, posting longer videos and priority ranking of quality content.
Twitter Blue users who “support Twitter in the battle against the bots” will soon be “rewarded with half the ads and make them twice as relevant.” They will be able to post longer videos and priority ranking will allow content to get priority rankings in replies, mentions and search. This helps lower the visibility of scams, spam and bots.
The Twitter Blue with verification is currently available on iOS in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
Musk laid off half its workforce on Friday but said cuts were smaller in the team responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation. Teams responsible for communications, content curation, human rights and machine learning ethics were among those gutted, as were some product and engineering teams, according to tweets by staff of the social media company.
Musk had in a tweet stated that the service was experiencing a “massive drop in revenue” from the advertiser retreat.
Musk blamed the losses on a coalition of civil rights groups that has been pressing Twitter’s top advertisers to take action if he did not protect content moderation – concerns heightened ahead of potential pivotal US congressional elections on Tuesday.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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