There just wasn’t much to it.
You could upload a video of up to 10 minutes length (free users are restricted to 2 minutes, 20 seconds). I could see that appealing to some social media professionals, though the blunt truth is that few people will watch beyond two minutes of social content.
You also got a 30-second window after you hit Send to edit a tweet before it went live. But there was no option to edit a tweet after it was published. So it was no different from pausing for half a minute to proof-read your text, for free, before posting.
Then there was some faff around different coloured icons and so forth.
I cancelled my sub after a couple of months.
Under new owner Elon Musk, an “upgrade” of Twitter Blue was rush-released, with the price now US$7.99 a month.
Musk said only those who paid would have a Verified mark (historic blue ticks will be cleared out).
I do like my blue tick - and I wanted to road-test the new Twitter Blue - so I signed up again.
I wish I hadn’t.
There is now no authentication process to receive a blue tick. All you have to do to be “verified” is agree to pay Twitter US$7.99 per month.
Immediately, a slew of Musk foes bought a monthly sub to get a blue tick for ridiculous accounts, including (as I type) a verified Eli Lilly that claimed: “We are excited to announce that insulin is free now”, and a verified Ted Cruz account posting obscenities.
Another user managed to imitate Tesla for eight hours - bragging about his exploits on TikTok along the way. Scores of others impersonating various brands managed to gain verification (not that much of a feat, admittedly, since the blue tick now goes to anyone willing to pay the US$7.99).
A verified “Tony Blair” and “George Bush” traded quips about how they missed killing Iraqis.
Musk decided to freeze people’s user names after they were verified, in a bid to quell the chaos.
That prompted a user stuck on the user name “Christmas” to complain to the new Twitter owner. Always one for a fast reaction, Musk lifted the ban, only to see “Christmas” change their user name to “Elon Musk”.
As misinformation about voter “fraud” in the US elections proliferated on his platform, Musk said the era of anyone being able to buy a blue tick empowered everyday users to take on the media establishment.
“As Twitter pursues the goal of elevating citizen journalism, media elite will try everything to stop that from happening,” he tweeted.
As confusion grew, he was doing quite a job himself.
The over-the-top fake accounts are being deleted by Twitter, but the broader point is that the value of a blue tick has been totally debased. If you see the verified mark next to the name of a celebrity, journalist or company, you now don’t know if they are the real thing or an imitator - only that they were a party willing to pay US$7.99 per month.
An “Official” label - which, like the old blue tick, can only be allocated by Twitter, not bought - will effectively function as the new Verified. The blue tick is for chumps.
But leaving aside the storm over blue ticks, the new Twitter Blue is just inept.
The ability to upload 10-minute videos is still promised on a Twitter help forum, but is not in the new product description. And after subscribing to the new Twitter Blue, I was still restricted to 2 minutes, 20 seconds.
And although the ability to edit a tweet up to five times within 30 minutes is a beta (test) feature for some users. Not for me. I’m back on the 30-second preview window - which effectively just means I’ll have to wait half a minute for each tweet to post (something that’s seriously painful if you’re posting a thread of replies).
There’s no priority support (unless it’s a billing issue), and you don’t go ad-free.
You might well ask at this point: ‘What’s the point of paying US$7.99 per month?’
I cannot tell you.
Elon, can I have my money back?
Cheers.
