Twitter and the drama of certified accounts, a multi-act story far from over.
Twitter certified user management is in full swing. Twitter said last week that it would be phasing out pre-new software certifiers starting April 1, but only in certain cases, with exceptions. The new article says that about 10,000 of the most popular sites will keep their blue tick without even signing up for a Twitter Blue subscription. And today, Twitter displays the same status for users certified under the old program as it does for those who follow, making it hard to tell the difference.
Twitter and the drama of verified accounts
Users blue ticked before Twitter Blue expected to lose it over the weekend, according to the Twitter Verified account. However, this did not happen, mainly due to the fact that deleting a user’s certificate is a rather tedious manual process. At the same time, Twitter removed the blue tick from The New York Times after it said it would not pay for Twitter Blue. Shortly thereafter, Elon Musk called the site on his platform “propaganda”.
Speaking of The New York Times, the top 10,000 sites and top 500 advertisers on the platform will keep their blue ticks without having to follow Twitter Blue. This relaxation of the rule follows several tweets from active users of the platform, such as LeBron James or the White House, who have said they will never pay for a subscription.
“We understand that Twitter Blue does not offer personal certification as a service. Essentially, the blue checkmark will simply serve as confirmation that the account is associated with a paying user,” White House chief digital strategist Rob Flaherty told staff in a memo. Many other accounts have tweeted a similar sentiment, with some rightly pointing out that these celebrities, journalists, and other influencers are the platform’s main traffic generators.
Multi-act story far from over
To add to this little drama, Twitter has changed the mention that appears when you click on the certified badge. Previously, the message was different for Twitter Blue subscribers and for pre-certified subscribers. Now it’s the same message for both: “This account is verified because it’s a Twitter Blue follower or has been previously certified.”
Some users see this as an egalitarian measure and are happy with it, others explain that this message makes it difficult to determine if users are genuine accounts or impostors. This is what delayed the launch of Twitter Blue in November. For desktop computers, a Chrome extension was released last year to help visually tell the difference.
Twitter recently stated that Twitter Blue will cost organizations $1,000 per month, with an additional $50 for a personal affiliate account in the United States. The program is currently not very popular, and Elon Musk recently reportedly told his employees that Twitter was worth less than half the amount he paid to buy the company.
Elon Musk was quick to delete a tweet that said stale verified accounts would not lose their ticks on April 1, as he previously said would not happen for “a few more weeks”.
however, if they specifically say they won’t pay for Twitter Blue, then Twitter will uncheck them pic.twitter.com/HiiWwf30tb
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) April 2, 2023