Will you pay to use Twitter?
Elon Musk has made a significant number of changes since buying Twitter. He’s gotten rid of whole teams; changed the verification model to one of pay-to-play; throttled read rates; restricted Tweetdeck to Twitter Blue premium users; gotten rid of the iconic logo and changed the name of the platform from Twitter to X; and allowed users previously banned for terms and conditions violations back on the platform under the guise of championing free speech. This resulted in an increase in hate speech on the platform and was partially responsible for the departure of half of the advertisers. Oh, and made sure that his tweets show up in users notifications even if they don’t follow him. These are just a few of the things that he’s implemented since his $44 billion takeover of the global town square.
This past week on Nuance we discussed Musk’s latest proposed change to make Twitter/X into a subscription-only platform.
Elon Musk discussed his plans for Twitter, now called X, on Monday during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Among other things, Musk said the social network is “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system” in order to combat “vast armies of bots.” — CNBC.com Elon Musk says Twitter, now X, is moving to monthly subscription fees and has 550 million users
Musk has said things before that never came to pass. A while back it was said that he was going to do away with the block feature that users use for privacy and harassment protection. That has yet to happen. Much like Elon’s promise to step down depending on the results of the Twitter poll he ran even though 57.5% of users voted yes that he should step down. Hiring Linda Yaccarino as CEO several months later doesn’t completely count because he is still calling the shots.
So what happens if Twitter/X becomes a monthly subscription platform? The revenue troubles the company has been facing since Elon took the helm are probably more of a motivation than combating bots. While a subscription may reduce the number of bots on the platform, it most certainly will also reduce the number of users dramatically. The proposed monthly fee hasn’t been made public yet. But, the question remains, will users of this free platform that has been ubiquitous to modern life for almost a decade and a half tolerate any charge? Especially when there is growing competition from similar platforms like Blue Sky and Meta’s feature-lacking, but growing, Instagram-adjacent Threads.
What will you do? If this comes to pass, will you pay to use Twitter?
Additional:
Will you pay to use Twitter?
Elon Musk says Twitter, now X, is moving to monthly subscription fees and has 550 million users
Musk’s Plan to Remove Block Feature on X Raises Concerns About Harassment
Twitter loses nearly half advertising revenue since Elon Musk takeover
Jaylon Carter is a blogger, social media marketing consultant, former Congressional Campaign Media & Communications Director, national labor union vice block leader, and a Hip Hop artist who performs under the stage name Timid (@timidmc).
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