What is Twitter Blue? Here's how you can sign up and get your blue tick
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Twitter Blue, the company’s optional $ 4.99-a-month subscription is set to roll out soon. It will give premium features to verified users. Elon Musk has given a deadline to employees to introduce paid verification on Twitter or leave.
Employees working on the project were told on Sunday, October 30 that they need to meet a deadline of November 7 to launch the feature or they will be shown the door. Musk said that he wanted to change how Twitter verifies accounts and handles bots. He tweeted, “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.”
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To qualify, accounts on the tweet-sharing app must be "notable, authentic, and active." That includes accounts of government officials, people representing prominent brands, news organizations and journalists, activists, celebrities, athletes, and others.
According to The Verge, Twitter is planning to charge $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription. Under the current plan, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue tick.
As per a Twitter blog, the feature will first roll out in Canada and Australia. People who sign up will get complimentary features such as:
1. Bookmark Folders: This will allow users to organize the tweets so that they can manage content when needed, easily and efficiently.
2. Undo Tweet: This will allow verified users to preview and revise the tweet before it goes live. With Undo Tweet, get a customizable timer of up to 30 seconds to click ‘Undo’ before the tweet, reply, or thread is posted on the timeline.
3. Reader Mode: This will allow users to keep up with long threads by turning them into easy-to-read text so as to read all the latest content seamlessly.
Other perks for subscribers include customizable app icons for the device’s home screen and fun color themes for the Twitter app. They will also have access to dedicated subscription customer support.
Meanwhile, Musk has been busy at work, churning out huge changes since he assumed office, including changing the homepage for logged-out users. As per The Verge, the billionaire has brought Tesla engineers on board as Twitter advisors. He is also planning to send off middle managers and engineers who haven’t recently contributed to the code base.
The cuts are expected to roll out soon, with managers already creating lists of employees to cut.
The Twitter Blue subscription was launched almost a year ago as a way to view ad-free articles from some publishers and make other changes to the app, specifically garnered for subscribed users. According to reports, Musk is keen on growing subscriptions to become half of the company’s overall revenue.
Ever since taking charge, Musk went on firing several top executives as he declared on the platform, "The bird is freed."
Among those culled just hours after Musk finalized the $44 billion acquisition were Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, the top lawyer for the firm, Vijaya Gadde, and Sean Edgett, the company's general counsel, among others. The SpaceX CEO appeared to mark his new position moments after the takeover, with sources claiming the fired executives were hastily escorted out of Twitter HQ.