Elon Musk , the new owner of Twitter , announced in a tweet Tuesday.
The upcoming launch of an $8 per month subscription for users who want to certify the authenticity of their account and be less exposed to advertising.
The social network has been offering paid features since last year, but Musk wants a new, more expensive and longer program to diversify the platform’s revenue streams. – with information from AFP –
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
Following the announcement of a possible $20 monthly cost, Musk received a flurry of criticism from multiple users with verified accounts. However, the initial interaction was obtained by the famous writer Stephen King, after pointing out that “Twitter should pay me”:
$20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 31, 2022
Musk’s justification for King’s tweet was to point out that he must “pay the bills somehow. Twitter can’t just rely on advertisers.” After that, he proposed to the author of “The Dark Tower” a price of 8 dollars as a midpoint.
Twitter Blue at $8
It is not new that Elon Musk changes his initial position in situations that generate too much conflict. However, the fact that an excessive price has been announced seems very well calculated in order to, more calmly, propose an obviously lower plan and that, given the excess, may be reasonable.
Part of the promises broadcast by Musk on Twitter are the need to eliminate bot and spam accounts: “If a Blue account is related to a scam or spam, it will be suspended. Essentially, this raises the cost of crime on Twitter.”
After the final announcement, Musk shared a photo of himself celebrating the new price of the Twitter Blue plan at $8, showing off a leather “Devil’s Champion” costume, valued at $7,500 in the traditional New York store “Abracadabra” . The outfit was worn to attend model Heidi Klum’s Halloween party.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
Twitter Blue for 8 dollars: what it brings
With a current price valued at US$4.99 – yes, half of what Elon Musk wants to charge -, Twitter Blue is a subscription plan that integrates a series of additional functions to the traditional use of the network.
Among the novelties that are integrated into Twitter Blue are: the folders of saved items, custom app icons – not available on Twitter.com – , Themes – not available for the web version and Android – personalized navigation, featured articles, simple reader of threads and the desired ability to undo Tweets.