Still not sure if you'll pay $8 for a Twitter Blue subscription? Don't worry, Twitter CEO and owner Elon Musk has thought of another way to convince you to do so.
See also: Elon Musk: Bought GPUs for Twitter's AI project
According to Musk, verified Twitter accounts are now “prioritized.”.
Musk didn't provide further clarification, and Twitter's press office only responded with poop emojis to all of our questions, so we're not sure exactly what this means. We asked Musk on Twitter about the change and will update this post if he responds.
Musk could be referring to a previously announced change, in which he said that “only verified accounts will be eligible” to appear in the For You feed. This is Twitter’s default, algorithmically generated view, and while you can switch to see tweets from people you follow in chronological order, we assume most people default to the For You view.
See also: Elon Musk Twitter: There may be charges for some users
This is a huge change, as it essentially means your tweets will be nearly invisible unless you pay for Twitter Blue, the subscription tier that gives you the blue checkmark verification badge along with other perks, including the ability to edit tweets and post very long tweets.
Musk later added a caveat to this, saying that tweets from unpaid and unverified accounts will only appear in your “For You” feed if you follow them. Still, the change will likely make it extremely difficult for anyone with an unverified account to significantly increase their follower count .
It’s worth noting that Musk initially said this change would go into effect on April 15, so it may have already happened. Perhaps the “prioritization” he’s talking about simply means that tweets from verified accounts appear more often in people’s feeds— if so, the effect is similar and amplified by the change described above.
See also: Elon Musk Twitter: New user registrations at "historic high"
Musk may also have been referring to another previously announced change, in which he said replies to tweets will be prioritized, so you'll see replies from people you follow first, followed by verified accounts, with unverified accounts coming last. He also said that verified users will be prioritized in reports and search results.
Musk’s Twitter is playing a game of cat and mouse with its Twitter Blue subscription, which Musk clearly sees as a major way for Twitter to make money. The company recently removed all the old blue checkmarks for non-paying users , only to start reintroducing them to the famous free accounts
Information source: mashable.com
