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Elon Musk's recent Tweets suggest that the blue tick badge on Twitter that signifies a verified official account of public figures might become a fully-fledged paid service costing a net amount per month in exchange for extra features.
Musk's Twitter takeover in the last week or so has been the talk of the internet as the South African-Canadian-American made quite a splash by announcing significant changes to the platform after the acquisition. One of them appears to be the $8 per month charge for a previously free service that was provided by the platform.
"Give Twitter a revenue stream": Elon Musk lays down plan to make blue ticks a paid Twitter service
The new CEO announced his intentions to monetize the blue tick a couple of days ago, eliciting a variety of responses from users and famous personalities alike. Popular author Stephen King called out the strategy in a recent tweet to which Elon had responded by saying, "We need to pay the bills somehow."
Similar sentiments have been talked about in his latest thread where the billionaire laid down his plans to transform the blue tick into a paid service which will apparently solve what he called the "lords and peasents system" on the platform. Making a statement about giving power back to the masses, the world's richest man Tweeted:
Previously, the blue tick was a badge given by the social media platform to those who it deemed to be important public figures, celebrities and organizations to give them official status on the platform.
While there was speculation about the pricing, Musk has said that while the $8 charge will be applicable in the US, the monthly fee will be regionally priced. Meaning, countries will have different rates according to their "purchasing power":
New Feautures to be added with the premium blue tick
As mentioned before, with the price tag, the service will act as a premium upgrade for accounts with the blue mark and it has now been revealed exactly what those new features will look like. Here is a list of special features reserved for blue ticked Twitter accounts, according to Elon Musk's recent tweets:
- Less adds (50% of normal)
- Access to long video and audio posts
- Priority in replies, mentions and search
The last of which is apparently aimed at preventing spamming and scamming on the platform.
How did the public react
As with much of what Elon Musk does, there was a variety of responses, with one side hailing him as a genius and the other deriding the decision of making the verified badge available to anybody with the money to pay for the service. Here are some of the reactions:
Elon Musk's main strategy appears to be a way to drive Twitter away from solely relying on advertisers to sustain the platform and to give itself some alternative revenue stream, which according to him will also allow them to "reward content creators." While the thread has been seen by many as an official announcement, a notice or press release is yet to be forthcoming.
