Elon Musk has begun to take steps that will radically change Twitter almost a week after becoming the new owner of the social network. This Tuesday he revealed through a series of posts on plans to monetize the company and, at the same time, the new features to which those who subscribe to the paid service will have access.
As announced on Monday TheVerge and confirmed the New York Timesone of Musk’s specific plans was to start charging a monthly fee which, a priori, was around $ 19.99 for a “Verified account” -something that can now be obtained for free and is translated into a small blue icon-.
As he hinted in his posts, the goal of the richest man in the world is for a large portion of the 238 million users to sign up for Twitter Blue, the premium service that has so far failed to meet expectations.
That plan to start charging a fee for having a verified profile has been challenged on the same social network, with popular profiles like Stephen Kingone of the most widely read authors in the US and the world, who tweeted last night: “Twenty dollars a month for a verified account. Fuck, they should pay me,” and threatened to leave the network.
Musk himself replied shortly afterwards to King – thus indirectly confirming his plans -: “We have to pay the bills somehow! Twitter can’t just rely on advertisers. How about $ 8?“.
A few hours later, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX officially confirmed this charge.
“The current system of Twitter gentlemen and farmers to know who has the blue check mark or not is shit (sic)”, the owner of the social network posted from his account. @Elon Musk.
Twitter Blue: price and features of the new subscription announced by Elon Musk
Although the price will be set in 8 dollars for most of the markets, the South African warned him the price will be proportionally adjusted for each country based on purchasing power.
As if that were not enough, Elon Musk has also unveiled several features that can be accessed by those who pay for the blue check mark, the icon that shows the verification of the social network. Among these he highlighted “the priority in replies, mentions and research, which is essential to defeat spam / scam“, as the new CEO explained.
There will also be the possibility of post videos that are longer than a minute and long audio, as well as displaying half of the ads in the file timeline.
This new condition of service promoted by Elon Musk promises to have an impact on the media in the form of payment wall (paywall), exclusively “for publishers willing to collaborate with us”.
“This will also give Twitter a source of income to reward content creators, “he warned.
The new Twitter: atmosphere of fear and suspicion
For the task of reconverting the company, Elon Musk involved fifty Tesla employees – mostly software engineers – plus some specific profiles from Boring (underground tunneling company) and SpaceX to reconfigure Twitter functionality.
Inside the company, the media allude to the climate of mistrust that reigns in the face of the certainty that Musk plans staff cuts, in proportions ranging from 50 to 75%, according to various sources, and without the millionaire having confirmed them until when, in addition to dismissing the previous board of directors.
The entrepreneur arrived last Thursday at Twitter’s San Francisco office – in an already famous image in which he carried a bathroom sink – accompanied by several people he trusted, among whom several names were repeated: his personal lawyer. Alex Sapiro, tech investor Jason Jared Birchall, head of the Calacanis and Musk family business.
Musk himself or his advisers began to do this questioning employees on Twitter to explain how algorithms or content control work, how the work teams and the functions of each one work. “The threat of dismissal stops if you fail to impress them,” says a source quoted by CNBC.
The same channel wondered how experienced electrical engineers can help improve Twitter when it comes to two unrelated businesses and when the platform is affected by content legislation that changes from country to country and can greatly affect its very essence.
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Source: Clarin
