He made the rumor official. Elon Musk, brand new owner of the social network Twitter, announced on Tuesday 1er november, in a tweet the upcoming launch of an eight dollar per month subscription for users wishing to have their account certified. The monthly subscription will also allow users to reduce their exposure to advertising content by half, said Mr. Musk.
The platform has already been offering the Twitter Blue option since last year, a subscription to paid features, available in some countries, but not in France. At a price of 4.99 dollars per month, Twitter Blue offered, among other things, the possibility of reading articles without advertising, modifying a tweet or even customizing its search bar. The social network’s new boss wants a new, more expensive and more widely adopted program that will diversify the platform’s revenue streams.
“Twitter’s Current Lords and Peasants System for Who Does or Doesn’t Have a Blue Checkmark [qui signale qu’un compte est certifié], that’s bullshit. Power to the people ! Blue for eight dollars a month”tweeted Mr. Musk.
Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the… https://t.co/k02ALYVvAu
Currently, only certain profiles can request verification by Twitter, a blue tick token of authenticity, including governments, businesses, media, political, cultural or sports personalities, etc. They can lose this badge if they do not follow the rules of the platform.
“Twice as much advertising”
As of Friday, Elon Musk asked engineers to work tirelessly on this overhaul of the system. He said Tuesday that his subscription would give access to other advantages: their tweets will appear in priority, they will be able to post longer videos and audio messages, and will be exposed to “twice as much advertising”.
Twitter Blue currently provides access to free, ad-free articles from hundreds of news sites, such as the Los Angeles Times. This will still be the case in the new version. “for publishers willing to work with us”Mr. Musk said.
The subscription price will be adjusted according to the country. “It will also bring revenue to Twitter to reward content creators”he concluded.
The richest man in the world has repeated, since the start of the eventful takeover process, that he had embarked on this operation to strengthen freedom of expression on the social network. He assured that profitability was not his priority. But Twitter is a network whose revenues come 90% from advertising and which has never been very profitable compared to its Californian neighbors Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Google (YouTube).
And Elon Musk may promise that the platform will not become unlivable when he relaxes the rules of content moderation, some advertisers are worried. On Friday, automaker General Motors announced that it is temporarily removing its ads from Twitter. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) for its part recalled the importance for brands that “toxic content” be removed.
Diversifying income therefore seems necessary. According to the specialized site The VergeMr. Musk initially considered raising the subscription price to $20 a month.
“Twenty dollars a month to keep my blue badge?” Fuck them, they should pay me instead. If it’s set up, I’m out”, tweeted Monday best-selling author Stephen King. Mr. Musk had responded by suggesting $8 a month.
$20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.