Because Musk wants to charge the blue tick on Twitter
Musk outlines Twitter's premium subscription plan (including a blue check) for $ 8 per month. This is the first move towards overhauling the social media platform owned by the American billionaire
The blue tick on Twitter will be paid from now on: Elon Musk , the new owner of the social network , has decided.
The American entrepreneur has in fact announced the new price for Blue, the paid service of the social network that will become a prerequisite for having a verified profile.
Until now, users could pay $ 4.99 a month to subscribe to Twitter Blue, giving them access to exclusive features, including an edit button. And the blue check was a free badge for verified accounts. Not according to Musk anymore.
“We have to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely on advertising alone, ”tweeted the billionaire responding to criticism from American writer Stephen King , according to which 20 dollars a month, as speculated by rumors, was an excessive price.
"I'll explain the rationale in detail before" the new model is adopted, added the billionaire according to whom his idea is "the only way to defeat the bots and trolls." But the battle against fake profiles is not the only challenge for Musk who must also review the Twitter business. The US entrepreneur seeks to increase subscriptions and make the social network – which hasn't been making a profit for years – less dependent on ads.
It is not even clear at the moment whether these changes will actually take place.
On October 28, Tesla and SpaceX boss finalized the $ 44 billion acquisition of the platform, Musk fired the company's top management and removed all board members from office, becoming the company's sole director.
Meanwhile, Musk's lending banks have announced that they will freeze the debt of 12.7 billion until the beginning of the year pending the new plan for Twitter.
All the details.
MUSK'S STRATEGY
“Power to the people! Blue for $ 8 a month, ”the richest man in the world tweeted on Twitter, criticizing the old method of checking the blue tick as a“ system of gentlemen and peasants ”.
The new owner of the social network therefore intends to charge 8 dollars to users interested in having the profile verified. Musk also added that paid users would have priority in responses and searches and in half of the advertisements.
HOW THE BLUE CHECK WORKS
But the blue check mark next to a username, normally for high-profile figures, is currently free. Twitter's previous method of verifying users for a blue tick included a short online application form and was reserved for those who may need "authenticity" for their identity on the platform, such as celebrities, politicians and journalists.
Other social networks, such as Facebook and Instagram, also have similar verification systems (with a blue check next to the username).
As the BBC recalls, Twitter introduced the system in 2009 after facing a lawsuit accusing it of not doing enough to prevent fake accounts. According to the Guardian , there were about 400,000 verified users on Twitter in 2021.
THE COMMENT OF THE EXPERTS
Yet the move could make it more difficult to identify reliable sources, critics say. Nu Wexler, former Twitter Head of Global Policy Communications, warned that introducing a tariff for blue ticks could make misinformation more difficult to spot. "With disinformation as a problem many platforms are struggling with, verification is one of the ways journalists, academic researchers and some users use to filter out misinformation or low-quality information," Wexler told the BBC 's Today program. "If you offer blue checks for rent, it's harder to sift through misinformation and find high-quality information," the former Twitter manager added.
Not to mention that more than 80% of Twitter users who took part in a recent survey said they wouldn't pay for the tick. About 10% said they are willing to pay $ 5 a month, Reuters recalls.
OBJECTIVE: MONETIZE
But the new owner of the social network must soon find a way to expand revenue streams beyond the advertising that is now Twitter's growth engine. Tesla's boss, on the other hand, has been repeating for months that the company that chirps must rely more on subscriptions than commercials to improve. Subscription to Blue fits precisely into this picture: on the one hand it increases revenues and on the other implies the existence of certified profiles, crucial in Musk's battle against spam or fake accounts.
WHILE BANKS FREEZE THE BILLIONAIRE'S DEBT
Meanwhile, banks that loaned Elon Musk $ 12.7 billion for his $ 44 billion Twitter acquisition are preparing to hold debt until early next year as they wait for the billionaire to unveil a plan. clearer business that they can market to investors. This was revealed by the Financial Times according to three people familiar with the plans.
Barring an unexpected surge in credit markets this year, the pool of banks, led by Morgan Stanley along with Bank of America and Barclays, has admitted that they will be stuck keeping debt on their books for months or even longer. and they will likely end up incurring huge losses on the financing package.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/perche-musk-vuole-far-pagare-la-spunta-blu-su-twitter/ on Wed, 02 Nov 2022 14:34:57 +0000.