Verified Twitter accounts won't be free anymore. Starting most likely in November, the blue badge will become part of a revamped subscription model.
Since Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, the "Chief Twit" has already pushed for some big changes. His latest move: Musk announced that he wants to change the process for verifying accounts on the social network.
Until now, getting your account verified was free. In the future, however, users will have to pay to get the blue badge. Twitter is planning on making the verification badge part of a subscription model.
Originally, there were different reports on the subscription cost, ranging from four to 20 US dollars, but as of November 2, Elon Musk confirmed the amount of eight dollars.
What will change for verified accounts on Twitter?
Similar to Instagram or WhatsApp, Twitter also offers their users the possibility to verify their account.
The blue verified badge on Twitter lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic. To receive the blue badge, your account must be authentic, notable, and active.
According to Elon Musk, the verification process will become more rigorous (and more expensive). Soon, users will only receive the verified badge if they are also "Twitter Blue" subscribers. The voluntary subscription has been around for about one year. The cost went from 2.99 to 4.99 US dollars. With it, subscribers received access to special features, such as taking back a tweet.
In the future, the blue badge will also be part of the premium package. This means, the only way for users to get the blue badge on Twitter will be to get a subscription. After confusion over the price, Elon Musk confirmed the sum of eight US dollars for a Twitter Blue subscription.
Elon Musk, allegedly, has given his team a deadline until November 7 to implement the changes.
The shift in the verification process doesn't come as a surprise. Musk has mentioned in the past that the wants to change the process. On Sunday, Musk tweeted:
The whole verification process is being revamped right now.
Will Twitter charge for tweets?
There are rumors that Musk wants to combine Twitter with cryptocurrencies. One way of doing this would be to ask users to make micropayments for each tweet. In other words, if you want to tweet, you have to pay. This could reduce the number of bots and fake accounts on the social media platform, but would also be a huge transformation to the way social networks typically work.
How will the changes affect companies?
Twitter is the latest social network to either introduce or upgrade their subscription model. WhatsApp, for example, officially launched their WhatsApp Business subscription a few weeks ago, and Telegram has also introduced a premium model this summer.
This is showing a clear trend to new ways of monetizing social media. For companies, who typically have a strong interest in getting their accounts certified to build trust, maintaining a social media presence on various networks, could become quite expensive.
In the end, it will depend on the features of the subscriptions, if it's worth it. Being able to delete Tweets and receiving a blue badge, however, might not be attractive enough for companies to justify the cost.
Especially, since there are attractive alternatives! Companies can get ready-to-go software subscriptions that will grant them access to multiple major social media sites at once, including premium tools and additional features such as a centralized inbox to manage messages from any messaging app for customer service agents and chatbots. These business solutions, like Sinch Engage, are not only fairly priced, they also offer 100% data protection, plus many functionalities and integrations that aren't available on the native apps.
So, it'll be interesting to see how many companies will actually pay for the new social media subscription offers, if they can get access to better professional solutions.
Get in touch with our Sinch Engage experts, and we'll be happy to answer all your questions.
