By: Nick Gambino
Twitter Blue has been controversial since its launch, changing the very fabric of the way the social media platform operates. While at one time you could sort of tell who’s a notable personality by the little blue checkmark by their name, now it’s a free-for-all (or more like an $8-for-all) for anyone willing to cough up a little dough.
Twitter relaunched the Blue subscription program just last month, offering those who subscribe through the iOS app an $11 a month plan and those who subscribe through their web browser a cheaper $8 a month plan. Web users also have the option of signing up for a whole year at just $84 (equivalent to $7 a month). With that they get a fancy blue checkmark and the option to upload longer videos (60 seconds) and undo their tweets. Twitter Blue subscribers will even get priority listing in reply threads.
After releasing the annual web option earlier this week, they are now offering Twitter Blue monthly subscriptions to Android users. Just like iOS, users will be charged $11 a month, $3 more than if you just fire up a web browser and subscribe that way. The reason for the higher price is probably to cover Google’s fee. The same goes for Apple. Twitter Blue is currently only available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
While Twitter Blue is certainly a way to bring in more money, there have been plenty of vocal critics of the move to monetize notability. Elon Musk sees it as a way of democratizing Twitter, curtailing bots and trolls and, of course, adding another revenue source so they don’t have to rely strictly on ads.
“Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bulls*!t,” Musk tweeted out back in November. “Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.”
The blue checkmark is ingrained in our minds as a way to quickly verify whether someone is legit. It didn’t work 100% of the time but was generally reliable. This new paid subscription changes that completely. It’s now worthless. Correction: it’s now worth $8.
