The billionaire is revamping the platform to make it profitable.
Many advertisers have decided to pause the promotion of their products and services on Twitter before the arrival of Elon Musk
The serial entrepreneur took control of the social network on October 27 in exchange for a large check for 44,000 million dollars.
He immediately embarked on a radical transformation of Twitter to mark a break from the previous team. He decided to turn the microblogging website into a stronghold for Republicans and conservatives who felt that Twitter 1.0 had muzzled them. Musk reactivated all accounts banned for violating the content management policy.
Baffled, many advertisers felt they wanted to see the platform’s new direction on which tweets will now be acceptable on Twitter. They feared that Musk’s laissez-faire approach would turn Twitter into “hell.”
Therefore, they had suspended their ads, which was a severe blow to the firm because advertising represents 91% of revenue in the second quarter of 2022, the last period for which the data is public. Musk had said that this decision weakened Twitter financially.
As a result, the billionaire has been trying to reinvent Blue, the platform’s paid subscription service. He decided to embed the blue checkmark, a sign that an account holder’s identity has been verified, into Blue. In doing so, it raised the price of Blue to $7.99 per month, excluding iPhone owners who must pay $11 per month.
In addition to this check mark, Blue subscribers also have new features, including the ability to edit a tweet.
The check mark was free in Twitter 1.0. At the time, it was awarded to companies, public figures, influencers, entities, institutions and journalists.
A new payment program for brands
Musk also decided to differentiate individuals from companies, institutions, and politicians. The check mark is still blue for people, but now it is gray for institutions and politicians and finally gold for companies. If he had announced that anyone who wanted to keep or obtain a blue check mark had to pay, the serial entrepreneur had said nothing about companies and institutions.
This is not the case. According to T.information, Twitter considers charging companies and brands $1,000 a month for the famous gold check mark. The measure is part of a new payment plan for companies.
Called “Verified to Organization,” the program includes charging business accounts $1,000 per month if they want to remain verified. Any affiliate account under the larger corporate account will cost an additional $50 per month.
Twitter recently sent out emails to companies and brands informing them about the program.
“We are now opening the doors for early access to our Organization plan,” a Twitter executive wrote to a brand on February 2, according to an email posted on the platform. “As an Early Access subscriber, you’ll earn a gold checkmark for your organization and membership badges for your associates.”
“Next week, we’ll add you to our admin portal and you’ll be eligible for tweet promotion, increasing reach and syndication for your organization and affiliates every time you tweet.”
The executive added that “if you want to sign up, Verified for Organizations is $1,000 per month and $50 per additional affiliate ID per month with one month of free memberships.”
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk has made no secret in recent months of his ambition to rebalance the contribution of subscriptions to revenue compared to ad revenue. For example, he promises creators/influencers a fairer revenue share in the hope that they will favor Twitter at the expense of other social networks.
