It has been a very short time since the failed experiment of Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, with paid ‘verified’ blue ticks. To remedy this and to monetise from the platform, here is a new attempt.
It is called Twitter Blue and is a paid subscription plan to use the social with certain advantages. Will it be successful? Let’s see its features and price list.
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Twitter Blue is born: here are its monthly costs
It seems no coincidence that the name of the subscription is Twitter Blue. Of course, blue has always been the social networking colour. But perhaps it is a way to make people forget the latest controversy.
It did not go well to propose that users add the blue ‘verified’ tick for $8 per month. Numerous accounts were born that pretended to be institutional or corporate, proposing instead fake posts or forbidden content. Many of them were blocked.
With the first attempt shelved, the monthly paid subscription for the Twitter platform was born. Or rather evolved. An initial version already existed. In addition to the well-known tick, it will also provide benefits in the use of the platform.
Twitter Blue is currently available in four countries. Namely the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where it is available from December 12, 2022. It is expected to be expanded to other countries in the near future.
We it comes to its price, which changes depending on the operating system through which one subscribes:
- $8 for Android (and presumably for the web version);
- $11 for iOS, i.e. all Apple devices.
The choice has not been officially explained, but could be due to the recent rifts between the two companies. Or, more likely, to the increase in App Store deductions on some payments. It is not yet clear whether one can subscribe via Android/web and then log in on iOS to dribble out the additional costs.
How Twitter Blue works: the advantages of a paid subscription
Twitter Blue will change the usage parameters of the platform, that’s for sure. If they do not seem attractive to you, you might consider saving your data with our guide for any eventuality. For instance if you want to unsubscribe in the future.
Let us now look at the advantages of this subscription. First of all, by subscribing to the Blue plan, the user will receive the much talked about blue tick.
To put an end to the hassle, it will only be available to those who add a verified phone number, and only after an account check to make sure it meets the guidelines. If the user wants to change some data while Blue, he or she will be able to do so. But the tick will be temporarily removed until further verification is complete.
Paid subscribers will see the advertisements offered by the platform halved. This is a useful benefit to receive fewer sponsored posts and interact more with human one. But perhaps a complete removal would have been understandable for such a payment.
More interesting is the ability to upload better videos. Blue subscribers will be able to upload longer clips in higher quality, up to Full HD (1080p) resolution. A ‘Player’ mode will also be available.
Then perhaps the best feature, Blue subscribers will receive a button to edit their Tweets at a later time after sending. Also, tweets, comments and mentions of payers will be shown higher in the feed than those of non-payers.
Lastly, one will have the possibility to access Twitter Labs, i.e. the new Twitter features in preview, while they are still being studied or in rollout. This is an element that may appeal to those who want to feel a bit like an ‘insider’.
Finally, it will remain possible to remain a free user, and that the ticks for official companies will be changed to different colours to facilitate distinction.
Who may need the Twitter Blue subscription
Twitter’s official accounts already clarified that new functions are being tested and will be added to the Blue ‘catalogue’ – in short, more benefits. But Twitter is currently at the centre of much controversy and huge declines in users, many en route to the success of Mastodon.
Musk’s move appears to be an attempt to favour those most passionate and attached to Twitter, giving them all they can (provided they pay). With this technique, however, it will not be easy to retain casual users, who feel that one social or the other makes little difference (in fact, they have subscribed to Mastodon).
One wonders who Blue really cares about: users or Musk himself? Move after move, Twitter seems to be becoming increasingly closed and secretive, excluding those who used it as social users. We shall see what happens in the future.
Read also: What are the real plans of Elon Musk with Twitter after buying it for $44 billion?
