This step aroused the discontent of the owners of the accounts affected by the new decision, so they launched a targeted campaign targeting the owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, and called to seek a legal route, allowing them to recover the free blue mark. , because it is a right that they have acquired for a long time.
424,000 accounts verified for free
By the end of 2022, the number of accounts verified with the blue mark on Twitter reached approximately 424,000 accounts, and the vast majority of these accounts obtained the verification mark for free, so today these people find themselves having to pay a amount no less than $8 per month to maintain the rating which they consider a symbol of trust.
Since being made available on Twitter in 2009, the Blue Authentication Mark has become an important symbol for users, businesses, celebrities and government institutions wishing to prove their identity and credibility on the platform, as the number of accounts earning this mark grew from 5,000 in 2010 to 311,000 accounts in 2018, reaching approximately 424,000 accounts by the end of 2022.
And the continued growth in demand for the blue verification mark encouraged the new owner of the Twitter platform, Elon Musk, to take advantage of this business and turn this mark into a source of income, so he hurried, and after a very short period of its purchase of the platform, to launch the new version of the “Twitter Blue” service, which allows verification accounts, at a cost from $8 per month and up to $11, through the Apple’s App Store, to complete its decision a few days ago to remove the old and free blue authentication marks, with the aim of forcing their owners to pay money in exchange for their recovery.
According to the Sansor Tower Research Foundation, the “Twitter Blue” service was able to achieve revenues of $11 million in the first three months of its launch, i.e. between December 2022 and March 2023, with more than 385,000 users who paid the cost of subscribing to this service, most of them in the United States of America, where this amount was reached despite the availability of this service only in 20 markets around the world.
The $1,000 mark for whom?
Now, with the removal of the old free authentication tags and the availability of the Twitter Blue service on a wider scale around the world, the revenue volume is expected to increase significantly, especially since Twitter has also launched the brand of golden authentication, which is intended for large organizations and institutions, and the cost of subscribing to it reaches 1,000 US dollars, which will give a significant boost to the revenue generated from the documentation services.
The founder and head of the National Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Maan Barazi, said in an interview with “Economy Sky News Arabia”, that the amount of $ 11 million made by Twitter Blue can be considered by some as insignificant, but in reality it is not, because this number is only the beginning and what to do. Looking at it today, it’s Elon Musk’s success in investing the authentication brand and making it a source that generates millions of dollars, while he also reduced the expenses of the platform, of more than 70% by downsizing, indicating that all these steps indicate that Twitter He is taking the right path, to make a lot of money and get rid of the losses that dogged him under his previous administration.
According to Barazi, Twitter Blue’s revenue will reach $22 million in 3 months and will continue to grow over the following months, as part of a larger program being developed for the platform, which includes providing a new system for advertisements. which generates millions of dollars, because Twitter is one of the most popular means of communication. Social media is effective in the marketing process, but the approach taken by the previous management of the platform has not been successful. While Facebook and Instagram ads were growing and making big money, Twitter was losing, and that’s what a successful businessman with a business idea like Elon Musk won’t be happy with.
Motion to Oppose Free Pull Marks
Brazi believes that the movement to oppose the removal of the old blue authentication mark on Twitter and to demand its recovery will go nowhere, as there is no clear answer in US law as to what. whether the action taken by Elon Musk violates the law or not, indicating that everyone is waiting now. The next step will be taken by the Blue Bird platform, which will prove its orientation towards profitability.
Other income
For her part, social media specialist Dadi Daccache says in an interview with “Sky News Arabia Economy” that the plan set by Elon for the Twitter platform continues as it was drawn up and will lead to reaching billions. dollars in the long term. long-term goal, because the revenue will not only be limited to the money generated by the authentication marks, but will also include the sums made by the advertisements, the rights of the developers to use the Twitter programming interface, as well as other new services that appear successively.
Daccache revealed that Twitter is testing a new media player that makes it easier to watch videos, which will allow the platform to seriously compete in this area, in light of the media race to publish visual content, expecting the Twitter platform, after a few years, become completely different from the one currently available, pointing out that Elon Musk is taking many measures, which satisfy advertisers, the latest of which is the announcement of a new policy that the platform will adopt to fight against hateful behavior, distinguishing hateful tweets and restricting access to them.
Daccache concludes by pointing out that Twitter’s long-term capabilities will be greater than those currently available, at a time when businessman Elon Musk can’t get enough of finding a new way to generate revenue.
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