Should I pay or should I go?
Going blueless on Twitter
Meta is mad at Canada. It’s all because of the proposed Online News Act, which would see companies like Meta and Google pay news publishers to share their content. But in a recent blog post, Meta said: “we will end the availability of news content on Facebook and Instagram for people in Canada if the law is passed in its current form.” In that same blog post, Meta published a news analysis that suggests the news industry benefits from posting links on Facebook. It also says that most people don’t even see links to news articles anyway. (I’m not sure how the news industry can benefit if no one is seeing the articles, but maybe that’s just me 🤷♀️).
In today’s newsletter:
Should I Pay (for Twitter), or Should I Go?
I’m Not Alone When it Comes To Video
This Content Is Ageless
SHOULD I PAY OR SHOULD I GO?
As if organizations and social media marketers didn’t have enough to think about, they also now need to decide if they are going to pay for Twitter verification, and if so, which plan they are going with — $15 per month for individuals, or $1,000 per month (you read that right 😳) for Verified Organizations.
Here’s what you need to know…
1/4 WYNTK
It was verified checkmark chaos on Twitter over the weekend, as Twitter officially started moving forward with a plan to strip public figures and notable organizations of their free blue legacy checkmark.
The response so far? Billionaire NBA superstar Lebron James tweeted that he would not be paying to keep the checkmark. William Shatner and Elon Musk also got into it. Meanwhile, the NY Times said it was not going to pay (and one report suggests Elon Musk stripped the checkmark off the publication’s profile early out of spite).
Meanwhile, Twitter invited organizations and non-profit to apply for a new subscriber plan called Verified Organizations. But the pricing plan is sure to cause sticker shock — coming in at more than $1,000 a month.
2/4 The Payment Plans
Twitter Blue: This paid subscription is built for the individual user (although, it seems like brands may also meet eligibility requirements). Pricing is geo-based. In Canada, it’s $15 per month for the app, or $10 per month on desktop. What’s included? Well, you can apply for a blue checkmark, which the company says:“will appear on eligible profiles after a review to ensure subscribed accounts meet all eligibility criteria.” You’ll also be able to use the “Edit Tweet” function (which gives you 30 minutes to make some changes to a tweet), create tweets of up to 4,000 characters, implement two-factor authentication, and have access to a host of other features.
Verified Organizations: Twitter says it is piloting a new program that would see businesses and organizations pay approximately $1,000 per month (pricing is geo-based) to apply for a gold checkmark. Organizations would also pay $50 per month per affiliate account. According to a tweet from Twitter Verified, “Accounts affiliated with the organization will receive an affiliate badge on their profile with the organization’s logo, and will be featured on the organization’s Twitter profile, indicating their affiliation.” If you choose to apply, here’s the online form.
Note: Blue checkmarks are for Twitter Blue subscribers, gold checkmarks are for businesses, and grey badges are for government accounts.
3/4 Your Options
If you choose to pay:
The plans could get costly, especially if you have multiple affiliate accounts. I know of at least one organization that has a freeze on spending right now due to the economy, so it may be hard to convince a manager to fork out $1,000 per month (or even $15 per month)
Now that everyone is paying for a verified checkmark, it may not hold as much weight as the free legacy checkmarks. This article from Mashable suggests that some users may even be embarrassed by the checkmark since it shows they paid for it (vs. earning it). But it could still remove confusion with imposter accounts.
If you choose not to pay:
You could be putting your account at risk of a cyber-attack; two-factor authentication is only available to subscribers
Your tweets may not be as visible. Elon Musk recently confirmed that only paying users will have their accounts appear in Twitter’s recommendation feed.
Musk also confirmed that Twitter will soon start prioritizing replies according to whether the user is a subscriber.
It may be easier for other accounts to impersonate you and steal your followers since there won’t be a visible indicator that yours is the official account
You won’t have access to the latest features (like longer tweets)
4/4 What To Do?
As an individual user, it’s totally up to you whether you want to sign up for a subscription. But for brands, there are bigger implications.
However, whether you’ve decided to sign up or not, you might want to wait it out for a few more weeks to see whether the backlash from influencers results in any adjustments to either subscription option. Or, as William Shatner points out, there could also be a major incident that causes some changes. 🤦♀️
📽️ VIDEO POLL RESULTS 📽️
I’m not alone!
So, it turns out I’m not the only one who finds it uncomfortable to put myself out there on video. These are the results of my LinkedIn poll (thanks to everyone who voted!). Only 17% said they feel comfortable appearing on camera, with 50% saying they absolutely do not feel comfortable, and 33% saying it depends on the platform. If you’re like me, and trying to get more comfortable with this, just keep posting!
ICYMI
Instagram now lets you save posts into collections shared by friends [The Verge]
TikTok leads the app download charts in Q1 2023 [Social Media Today]
Pinterest shares its vision for the future of shopping [Pinterest Blog]
AGELESS
If you think it’s only Gen Z dancing and lip syncing on TikTok, the Retirement House TikTok account will definitely prove otherwise. This parody TikTok account featuring seniors grooving to songs like Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” have been going viral for a while now. They were featured in BuzzFeed last summer. And just in case TikTok gets banned in the U.S., they have an Instagram account too (that’s just good social media strategy).
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