Alex Bruno
According to a story in the technology magazine The Verge, Elon Musk intends to charge users to maintain the coveted “blue check” designating verified status now that he is in control of Twitter.
According to The Verge, Musk wants to increase the price of Twitter Blue from its current $5 monthly fee to $20 per month and add identity verification to its list of capabilities.
The Verge claimed, citing unidentified sources and internal communications, that current verified users will have 90 days to join up for the subscription or lose their blue check mark.
A request for comment from Twitter did not immediately get a response.
On Twitter, a well-liked social messaging service used by journalists, politicians, and celebrities, a blue checkmark, which verifies that the person behind a profile is who they claim to be, has become a prized symbol of status.
Musk tweeted on Sunday that “the whole authentication procedure is being rebuilt right now.”
Previously, Musk set forth his ambitious goals for the platform, which has had trouble growing its user base. His suggestions, according to the New York Times, include increasing subscriptions to make up half of the business’s income and expanding the service to 900 million users in five years.
According to Twitter’s most recent financial report, income from Twitter Blue, which allows users to edit tweets and eliminates certain advertising, now accounts for less than 8% of the business’s revenues.
Stephen King: “They ought to compensate me”
Since Musk assumed effective control of Twitter on Friday, he has implemented a number of changes, including sacking the CEO and several senior officials and altering the homepage of the website for visitors who aren’t signed in. According to the Washington Post, he intends to reduce Twitter’s employment by up to three-quarters.
But according to social media experts, it will be difficult to transform his $44 billion acquisition into a popular and expanding brand.
Musk’s acquisition, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, comes “at the worst possible moment,” since social media and the advertising that supports it are seeing a “huge” slowdown. While this is happening, a few famous users have said they are leaving the service now that Elon controls it.
Stephen King, the maestro of horror, responded to the proposed $20 monthly fee for verification status by tweeting an expletive: “$20 a month to maintain my blue check?… they should pay me. If it gets enacted, I’m gone like Enron.”
Source: CBS News
