Billionaire Elon Musk wants to change the company’s optional Twitter Blue $4.99 a month subscription into a more expensive $19.99 a month subscription that also verifies users.
He has ordered Twitter employees to build and implement a paid Twitter verification feature or else they will be fired! The deadline for building this feature is 7 November 2022.
The plan is to give current verified user 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark.
This is not unexpected as he has been clamouring for a change in the way Twitter verifies accounts and handles bots.
Launched last year, Twitter Blue subscription offering is meant to add enhanced and complementary features to the already existing Twitter experience for those who want it.
Those who sign up for a Twitter Blue subscription will get a set of features and perks that include the following:
Bookmark Folders: Want an easy way to better organize your saved content? Bookmark Folders let you organize the Tweets you’ve saved by letting you manage content so when you need it, you can find it easily and efficiently.
Undo Tweet: Typo? Forgot to tag someone? Preview and revise your Tweet before it goes live. With Undo Tweet, you can set a customizable timer of up to 30 seconds to click ‘Undo’ before the Tweet, reply, or thread you’ve sent posts to your timeline. Correct mistakes easily by previewing what your Tweet will look like before the world can see it.
Reader Mode: Reader Mode provides a more beautiful reading experience by getting rid of the noise. The company is making it easier for its users to keep up with long threads on Twitter by turning them into easy-to-read text so they can read all the latest content seamlessly.
Subscribers will also get access to perks, such as customizable app icons for their device’s home screen and fun color themes for their Twitter app, and will have access to dedicated subscription customer support.
Though Elon Musk might see it as a good way of making money for the company, Adi from TheVerge believes that verification serves a central trust-building role for Twitter and Musk’s proposal could erode that trust just as the platform threatens to spiral out of control.
Rebecca Enonchong, a Camerounian tech tweeted “Please don’t do a pay to play. Defeats purpose of verification. You also have millions of users in global south that can’t access paid services because your payment systems don’t allow.”
She added, “You need to open up payment to other forms like mobile money. And make it affordable enough that non USD payers can still benefit. I subscribe to Twitter Blue and to be honest, it’s not worth it. I definitely would not pay more just to keep verification.”
We shall wait with bated breath whether the people building this paid verification feature will be able to build, test this feature within this tight timeframe. Well they know if if they don’t do this, they might get fired.
