Ask HN: Charging for Twitter verification, was it a wise decision?
I am sure there are so many other opportunities to monetize Twitter. Paying for a badge instead of earning it beats the idea of social trust. If Elon Mask is out of ideas, I suggest looking at Telegram, they started selling account handles, IMO this could bring more money.
How much is Twitter going to make out of blue badges? Any ideas?
13 comments
Change others' profile name as seen in your feeds & lists, $5 / yr.
Moar pinned lists, $2.99 / mo.
Split screen mobile w/ e.g. compose & browse, $5 / mo.
Grammar suggestions, $5 / mo.
Sound Themes for Twitter UI, free for first 30 days, $2.99 / mo thereafter, includes Star Trek
Sick yearly customized photo book OR custom URL to online archive gallery of your tweets & media, $39.99
Conceptual:
Hashtag Bidding, sky's the limit
Deep Tesla Integration for who knows wtf reasons, $$$
Twitter Phone, free for first year, $$$ / yr. thereafter
Moar pinned lists, $2.99 / mo.
Split screen mobile w/ e.g. compose & browse, $5 / mo.
Grammar suggestions, $5 / mo.
Sound Themes for Twitter UI, free for first 30 days, $2.99 / mo thereafter, includes Star Trek
Sick yearly customized photo book OR custom URL to online archive gallery of your tweets & media, $39.99
Conceptual:
Hashtag Bidding, sky's the limit
Deep Tesla Integration for who knows wtf reasons, $$$
Twitter Phone, free for first year, $$$ / yr. thereafter
The new badge doesn't include any ID verification. It just indicates you are a subscriber to Twitter Blue. The old badge will look different but operate the same way as old verification. So, in effect, the new badge is just flair on a more expensive, less featureful version of Twitter Blue.
There are an estimated 100,000 current Twitter Blue subscribers and an estimated 400,000 verified accounts. If they all buy the new Twitter Blue for $8/month it will be $48 million in revenue. (And may actually lose Twitter money after app store cut from Google and Apple and with diminished advertising for those users.)
It's confusing, poorly implemented, and not likely to impact the bottom line.
Even if they kept all the revenue, didn't lose out on add sales, and the program cost nothing to implement and maintain, they would need 11 million subscribers every year just to pay the interest on the loans Musk used to buy Twitter. (11 mil * $96 = 1.06 bil)
Probably better to focus on the advertisers.
There are an estimated 100,000 current Twitter Blue subscribers and an estimated 400,000 verified accounts. If they all buy the new Twitter Blue for $8/month it will be $48 million in revenue. (And may actually lose Twitter money after app store cut from Google and Apple and with diminished advertising for those users.)
It's confusing, poorly implemented, and not likely to impact the bottom line.
Even if they kept all the revenue, didn't lose out on add sales, and the program cost nothing to implement and maintain, they would need 11 million subscribers every year just to pay the interest on the loans Musk used to buy Twitter. (11 mil * $96 = 1.06 bil)
Probably better to focus on the advertisers.
> It just indicates you are a subscriber to Twitter Blue.
Well apparently they're now labeling accounts as 'official' so users can distinguish between a mere $8.00/mo tick versus a notable, official account.
Well apparently they're now labeling accounts as 'official' so users can distinguish between a mere $8.00/mo tick versus a notable, official account.
I think it was a wise decision, as it will help Twitter to monetize its platform in addition to the ads it already sells. It will also help to ensure that only those who are truly dedicated to using Twitter will be verified, which will in turn help to improve the quality of content on the site. Furthermore, it will likely bring in a significant amount of revenue for Twitter, which can be used to improve the site in various ways. Bots will also be less likely to be verified, which will help to reduce spam on the site.
[deleted]
It's a dumb idea, like most of Elon's ideas lately, imo.
> Paying for a badge instead of earning it beats the idea of social trust
Well apparently they're now labeling accounts as 'official' so users can distinguish between a mere $8.00/mo tick versus a notable, official account.
I'm going to sign up for it. If it means I'm not shadowbanned and get noticed in people's feeds more, then this is a win.
Also Twitter Blue drastically separates the wheat from the chaff. People don't like spending good money to spam (unless I'm wrong, maybe there's a tonne of spammers leveraging Twitter Blue so they can spam).
Well apparently they're now labeling accounts as 'official' so users can distinguish between a mere $8.00/mo tick versus a notable, official account.
I'm going to sign up for it. If it means I'm not shadowbanned and get noticed in people's feeds more, then this is a win.
Also Twitter Blue drastically separates the wheat from the chaff. People don't like spending good money to spam (unless I'm wrong, maybe there's a tonne of spammers leveraging Twitter Blue so they can spam).
>People don't like spending good money to spam
lol. Oh sweet summer child. You have so much to learn.
lol. Oh sweet summer child. You have so much to learn.
Elon’s the kind of guy that moves fast, gives ideas a try, and re-evaluates constantly based on performance and feedback.
So, it’s too early to predict the outcome, but having seen the success of Tesla and SpaceX, I think Twitter is worth watching.
Betting against the future success of Elon Musk, is it a wise decision?