On Monday, Twitter will relaunch its membership service, Twitter Blue. Users may now purchase verified status for $8 per month or $11 per month for iPhones.
The action comes after a bungled redesign of the program last month that led to the appearance of several imposter identities on the platform as some users seized the opportunity to create false “confirmed” accounts for well-known brands and prominent people. Company has officially announced the return of Twitter Blue on their official Twitter account:
we’re relaunching @TwitterBlue on Monday – subscribe on web for $8/month or on iOS for $11/month to get access to subscriber-only features, including the blue checkmark 🧵 pic.twitter.com/DvvsLoSO50
— X (@X) December 10, 2022
Twitter Blue will cost $11 for iPhone users
Twitter did not explain why Apple customers paid more than other internet users, but Musk has been outspoken in his criticism of Apple’s app store fees, which may be as high as 30% of sales. Elon Musk claimed that in a string of tweets last month that Apple had threatened to ban Twitter from its app store for an unidentified reason and that the maker of iPhones had ceased running advertisements on the social networking site.
He did, however, tweet that the misunderstanding on Twitter being deleted from Apple’s AppStore had been rectified following a subsequent meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Twitter users already started to make jokes about the extra fee being charged to iPhone users:
— Ocean (@FortitudeMind) December 10, 2022
Advantages of Twitter Blue
Twitter Blue has some more features besides confirming that you are the owner of your account. By paying $8 per month or $11 per month if you are an iPhone user and becoming a Twitter Blue user, you get features like:
- Prioterized mentions, replies, and searches about your account
- Seeing %50 fewer ads than un-verified users
- Posting longer videos than un-verified users
- Editing your posts and uploading 1080p resolution videos
- Getting early access to beta features of Twitter
- You get different checkmark colors depending on what type of Twitter account you have:
- Personal – Blue
- Government – Grey
- Business – Gold
Why did Twitter remove the blue tick in the first place?
Following complaints that users were utilizing the $7.99/month Blue subscription service on Twitter to mimic businesses and famous people, Twitter temporarily suspended the feature.
Due to the expensive subscription service, many pranksters started setting up fake Twitter accounts. It made the site even more conducive to false information, and numerous easily obtained checkmarks were used to discredit corporations, governments, and celebrities.
Ok, but how will Twitter prevent this from happening again?
The blue checkmark won’t be given automatically to subscribers. Twitter said in a statement announcing the service’s relaunch on Saturday that this won’t happen until “after your account has been examined.” The ability to change one’s handle, display name, and profile photo will also be available to subscribers, but doing so will result in a temporary loss of the blue check mark until one’s account is evaluated again.
Elon Musk is serious about Twitter Blue users’ privacy
Musk has additionally threatened to terminate and legally pursue any employees who reveal private information. Employees of Twitter who reveal private information to the media risk legal action from Elon Musk. Employees are being asked to sign a pledge confirming their understanding. The Email by Musk goes like this according to @ZoeSchiffer:
”As evidenced by the many detailed leaks of confidential Twitter information, a few people at our company continue to act in a manner contrary to the company’s interests and in violation of their NDA. This will be said only once: If you clearly and deliberately violate the NDA that you signed when you joined, you accept liability to the full extent of the law & Twitter will immediately seek damages.”
Conclusion
It seems that Elon Musk will give many privileges to its users with the new Twitter Blue model he has developed. While the blue tick, which was previously only used to confirm the owner of the account, now includes many features such as 1080p video upload, priority in Tweets, and early access to new features. Also, Elon seems to be very determined to remove the question marks about security inside his platform.