Twitter Will No Longer Use the “Lords & Peasants” System
Elon Musk appears to have decided to charge $8 per month for Twitter verification. Musk outlined a concept for a new iteration of verification through the Twitter Blue membership service in a series of tweets on Tuesday, according to sources. Power to the people, he proclaimed, as he denounced the “existing lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark.” At $8 per month, Blue.
Hours earlier, Musk suggested the $8 price in response to a tweet from Stephen King, who said that if rumors that Twitter intended to charge $20 per month for the authentication of famous users were accurate, he would be “gone like Enron.” “We must find a way to pay the bills!” The horror author heard from Musk. Twitter can’t only rely on sponsors.
According to purchasing power parity, the price will be “adjusted per nation,” according to Musk. Other benefits for Blue customers, he claimed, would include “priority in answers, mentions, and search,” half as much advertising, and the capacity to publish lengthy videos and music. He said that a “paywall bypass for publishers willing to collaborate with us” would also be part of it.
This would “provide Twitter an income stream to reward content creators,” according to Musk. According to him, there would be a “secondary tag below the name” for public individuals who have been verified on Twitter, as there is already for politicians. It’s unclear if Musk will actually implement any of his suggested adjustments. According to sources.
The Verge adds that the current Blue subscription costs $4.99 per month and has nothing to do with authentication. Editing tweets and reading articles without advertisements were benefits for subscribers. However, on Monday, Twitter stopped offering this service, citing a desire to concentrate its resources on “providing more value for our users.”
Around 90% of Twitter’s revenue now comes from advertising, but some businesses are beginning to avoid the network due to Musk’s ownership. Apparently, due to worries over content control, advertising firm IPG told clients to stop using Twitter on Monday.
