Twitter has made significant changes to its subscription service, Twitter Blue, as of Friday, March 24. The social media giant announced that the paid plan is now accessible worldwide, and the cooling-off period for new accounts to buy Twitter Blue has been shortened to 30 days, reported first by TechCrunch.
This illustration photo taken on July 8, 2022 shows Elon Musk's Twitter page displayed on the screen of a smartphone with Twitter logo in the background in Los Angeles.
Reduced Waiting Period
After Elon Musk introduced Twitter Blue, the paid plan that grants users verification marks, a considerable number of accounts began impersonating brands, politicians, and other popular figures.
This caused a lot of confusion at first until such time when users figured that these were satirical accounts.
As a result, the company had to withdraw the rollout of the paid plan. To prevent similar situations in the future, Twitter added a condition that newly created accounts had to wait for 90 days before they can avail of a Twitter Blue subscription.
However, the company has now reduced the wait time to 30 days for new accounts to join the social network's subscription service.
According to the Twitter Blue page, new subscriptions to Twitter Blue are accessible worldwide on the web, iOS, or Android. However, not all features are available on all platforms.
Newly created Twitter accounts will not be able to subscribe to Twitter Blue for 30 days. The company may also impose waiting periods for new accounts in the future at their discretion, and without prior notice.
Read Also: Twitter Bookmark Counter Now Available on the iOS, to Let You Know How Many People Saved Your Tweet
No More Legacy Verification Checks
The company has also decided to discontinue legacy verification checkmarks from April 1, 2023. Under previous management, these Blue marks highlighted notable people like politicians, activists, journalists, and other public figures.
The business encouraged individuals and organizations to sign up for Twitter Blue in order to receive a checkmark. More importantly, Twitter's verified organization service comes with a $1,000 monthly subscription and an extra $50 per associate to signify their affiliation.
Many are perplexed by the company's choice to remove the feature, especially given that it will be removed on April Fools. Given Elon Musk's eccentric demeanor, it is "extremely possible" that this announcement is a hoax or practical joke from the Twitter CEO, according to The Verge.
Before Musk took over, Twitter exclusively utilized blue checkmarks for verified individuals and organizations that were noteworthy, active, real accounts. Unlike the current situation, verification checkmarks were given out to people who can pay for the subscription.
Twitter expanded Twitter Blue subscriptions globally on the same day as it removes the legacy checkmarks, months after the service's debut. The subscription service had only previously been available in a small number of nations-50, to be exact-but it is now officially available worldwide.
Together with the Verified badge, Twitter Blue includes several features that are unavailable to regular users, including prioritization for ranking in conversations, fewer advertisements, bookmark folders, navigation customization, edit and undo buttons for tweets, and the ability to tweet 4,000 characters.
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