Musk announces subscription plans, Twitter employees ticked
Reports say that Musk’s representatives will meet advertisers in New York sometime this week, despite concerns of advertiser exodus
In the continuing reality show that has come to make up the Musk-Twitter deal, developments are coming out even as they are being reported, especially as the man at the center of it all can change news headlines within 280 characters and a minute.
In one of the few pieces of news that can be confirmed, Musk has categorically stated that from now on, the coveted Blue Tick will be available only through subscription at US $8 a month, after earlier consternation that the price was going to be a far more bougie $20. Whether this price was fixed following the world’s richest man's exchange with legendary author Stephen King over the same is as yet unknown.
We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
It should be noted that Musk also added that the $8 figure applied to the US, and would be adjusted according to purchasing power parity around the world. At a very rough guesstimate, this would be around Rs 200 or less in India.
Musk also announced other advantages to having a blue tick, including being able to post longer videos and audios; get priority in mentions, replies and search; and “half as many ads”.
You will also get:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
- Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam
- Ability to post long video & audio
- Half as many ads
All of these are significant changes, which also may be why reports are filtering in that Musk has exhorted workers to put in 84-hour work weeks to complete his yet-to-be-fully-announced goals within an as-of-yet unspecified deadline. Even as senior executives continue to exit in droves, conflicting reports of Musk’s firing and hiring plans have been making the rounds.
Reuters reported that employees of the social media platform have said they have “little communication about the future of the company. An all-staff meeting that was scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled, following the cancellation by Twitter of a check-in call last week.”
Reuters further reported that Musk’s representatives will be convening with advertisers in New York sometime this week, even as concerns over a mass exodus of advertisers and the revenues they bring in continue to persist.
A radical believer in free speech, Musk reportedly said he’d be pruning the already fairly lax moderation of the platform while trying to reassure advertisers that their media wouldn’t appear next to disturbing and or illegal text or imagery, something which has happened as recently as September.
