If you buy a blue checkmark, Twitter will tell on you
Elon Musk has officially given the green light to the new $8 Twitter Blue subscription.
After a false start over the weekend and a one-day delay due to the midterm elections, the new Twitter Blue service officially went live on Wednesday.
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What do users get? The blue verification badge, of course! That's the main draw, even though Twitter isn't doing anything to verify if the person is who they claim to be.
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What else do they get? Well, as of right now…nothing. Everything else that's listed as a feature — priority placement in replies, the ability to post longer videos, and 50 percent less ads in your feed — are all marked as coming soon.
However, there is one feature that wasn't previously announced. Twitter has unintentionally built in the mocking "this mf paid for Twitter" meme that's been going around since Musk announced the $8 verification service.
Twitter now actually tells you which MF'ers paid for that blue checkmark. To find out for yourself, simply go to a verified user's profile page on desktop or mobile, and tap on the blue checkmark.
If the user was part of the prior verification system —the one where they actually had to be a relevant figure who was likely to be impersonated — you'll see this:
But if the account is only verified because they are paying $8 for it, then you'll see this:
That's right, that mf paid for Twitter.
It is actually good news that Twitter is making that distinction, even if it is quite funny. It's unclear how many people will know to click the blue checkmark to see if the blue-checkmarked user actually is a legitimate verified member or someone simply paying for the privilege.
The new Twitter Blue subscription launches on the same day Twitter experimented with (and ultimately rolled back) a second "Official" tick in order to verify actual brands and notable users as the new subscription service effectively renders the blue checkmark useless.
As for who is paying for Twitter Blue so far, a quick scroll through the live public Twitter feed will show you that mostly crypto, NFT, and low-follower social media "influencer" accounts seem to be diving in.
My favorite was this person I came across laughing at the absurdity of their 35 follower account being verified.
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A few Twitter users paying for verification also complained that they were unable to change their display name after subscribing to Twitter Blue, although this seems to be a bug.
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It's worth noting that users who previously subscribed to the prior, cheaper version of Twitter Blue will have also been given a blue checkmark without having had to upgrade, at least for now.
On a recent Twitter Space that Musk attended on Wednesday as the feature went live, the "Chief Twit" explained to advertisers that if a Twitter Blue subscriber impersonated a brand, they would be suspended and Twitter would keep their $8. Of course, scammers and spammers will just create new accounts, but Musk doesn't seem to have an answer for that conundrum yet.
Also, while the user base for the $8 Twitter Blue is currently unclear, projections based on available data do not look good for Musk.
