“The whole thing feels like the Star-Bellied Sneetches; creating a problem and at the same time offering the chance to buy a solution to it.”
If you see two accounts claiming to be the NZ Herald, and neither is verified, it’s easy to pick that the one with 408,000 followers is the real deal.
Twitter has also promised to clamp down on deceptive accounts, although following its recent performance, and cutbacks, some brands will question how easy it will be to get a complaint responded to, and in what time frame.
So far, the new programme is slated for 16 countries from April 1, including Australia (where it will cost A$1500/month). New Zealand is not on the list, and there’s no timeline for when the plan will be expanded, or whether New Zealand-verified organisations will keep their ticks after April 1 (Twitter no longer has an Australia-New Zealand comms person and recently set up an automatic reply for its press team, responding to any emailed enquiry with a poop emoji).
Individuals losing blue ticks - unless they pay up
We do know that another change coming on April 1 will affect Kiwis: anyone who currently has a blue “verifed” tick will lose it if they don’t shift to a monthly Twitter Blue subscription, which costs $13 via the web or $19 through Apple’s App Store.
Twitter Blue also includes other perks, including priority ranking in conversations, the ability to upload longer videos, tweets up to 4000 characters long and the ability to keep two-factor authentication (as security protection was axed for standard accounts last week).
Historically, you have not been able to pay for verification on Twitter. The social media network arbitrarily designated a high-profile account with a blue tick - at no cost - if it deemed the person or organisation behind it was authentic.
After buying Twitter last year, Elon Musk that this curated verification was a “lords & peasants system” that was “corrupt and nonsensical”. He would “democratise” verification by making a blue verified tick available to anyone who paid US$7 per month.
The self-selecting verification also coincided with Musk laying off more than half of Twitter’s staff - a cull that would have made it logistically challenging to maintain a manually-curated system.
When the new system was introduced last November, Twitter was hit by a wave of new verified accounts that impersonated brands or, in a number of cases, Musk himself.
The revamped Twitter verification process now requires a verified phone number, and terms and conditions forbidding deceptive accounts.
Facebook follows suit
Musk, who bought the money-losing Twitter for US$40 billion, including US$12b in debt, recently said the firm is now worth about US$20b, according to The New York Times, which sighted an email sent to staff about a new stock compensation programme.
The new owner has been looking for ways to cut costs and boost revenue as he looks to service around US$1b in interest rate payments per year, and steer Twitter back to profit.
Twitter has not said how many of its users have paid for Twitter Blue, but its traction has apparently been sufficient to inspire rivals.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, last week said it would pilot a programme in the US for Facebook and Instagram that will see adults pay US$11.99 per month (or US$14 per month) to receive a blue verification tick, plus “increased visibility and reach” for $23.99 via the web or $29.99 via iOS or Android.
Government-issued ID was required for the Australasian trial, which is only open to individuals over 18, with businesses ineligible. You can join a waitlist for the limited trial here.
