It’s official: Elon Musk has just announced the launch of Twitter Blue for Business, the new way for companies and brands to get verified check-marks on Twitter. For those who don’t know, Twitter Blue for Business is a new subscription service that offers gold check-marks for businesses and brands, plus an additional $50 monthly for each affiliated sub-account.
But that’s not all. In order to maintain the gold check-mark status, companies and brands have to fork over $1,000 per month. This new pricing for gold check-mark status was confirmed by social media consultant Matt Navarra and tech news site The Information.
The new Twitter Blue for Business service also includes new square profile pictures for companies and brands, and gray check-marks for governmental accounts. Moreover, within the next few months, Twitter will discontinue all legacy verified check-marks, so that eventually only paying individual and corporate customers will have verified status.
It’s no surprise that Elon Musk has taken this step. After taking over Twitter in late October, he amassed some $12.5 billion in debt and is now looking to increase subscription revenue to meet those obligations. To win back marketers who have fled the platform, Twitter announced partnerships with two brand-safety analytics vendors, promising new tools to ensure ad-adjacent tweets aren’t offensive.
On Friday, Musk also announced that Twitter would start sharing ad revenue with creators for “ads that appear in their reply threads” starting of Feb. 3. However, he didn’t provide details on how much users can expect to be paid.
For individuals, Twitter Blue (which includes a blue check-mark) costs $8 per month purchased on the web and $11 per month through Apple’s iOS. Musk, in addition currently serving as CEO of Twitter, is the chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX.
Separately, on Friday a federal jury found Musk wasn’t liable for Tesla investor losses over the tech mogul’s 2018 tweets. After the verdict was announced, Musk tweeted, “Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed! I am deeply appreciative of the jury’s unanimous finding of innocence in the Tesla 420 take-private case.”
It’s clear that Elon Musk is determined to make Twitter a success and will do whatever it takes to make it happen. Whether or not the new Twitter Blue for Business service will be a success remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a bold move.
Source: variety.com