X Premium / Twitter Blue

About

X Premium, originally known as Twitter Blue or Twitter Premium, is an extra paid subscription service on Twitter / X first introduced in mid-2021 but made notable after Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform in late 2022. It involves paying for a verified account which in turn can award top creators monetary compensation. The idea of "$8 blue checkmarks" became akin to X Premium discourse, portraying the idea of paying for one as idiotic. Musk was also rumored to be considering a monthly Twitter paywall, purportedly embedded in the future of X Premium. Following these events, Musk's decisions for X caused mass backlash and memes, mostly making fun of the people who would "actually pay for Twitter Blue." Parody accounts impersonating celebrities, companies and news outlets (among other verified entities) also generated controversy due to them taking advantage of the "pay for blue checkmark" system and allegedly scamming users.

History

On June 3rd, 2021, the official Twitter account of Twitter Blue posted its first announcement tweet^[1] that introduced itself as, "a new subscription service designed to give you more customization over your Twitter experience and access to premium features, including: 🔹Undo Tweet 🔹Bookmark Folders 🔹Reader Mode." Over the course of a year and a half, the tweet received roughly 2,700 likes (shown below). Twitter posted a long-form blog post on the feature's components to its website.^[2] In June 2021, Twitter Blue cost $2.99/month in the U.S.^[3]

Developments

Soon after in June 2021, multiple news outlets like the New York Post^[3] covered the feature. However, Twitter Blue didn't receive significant attention until April 2022 when Elon Musk, who at the time was only the company's number one shareholder and not its CEO, considered altering Twitter Blue's service. On April 9th, 2022, news outlet Reuters^[4] published an article about Musk's Twitter Blue concepts that included, "slashing its price, banning advertising and giving an option to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin."

On May 6th, 2022, The New York Times^[5] spoke with Musk about his plans for Twitter Blue. He expressed ambition for Twitter Blue, claiming that "he would increase Twitter’s annual revenue to $26.4 billion by 2028, up from $5 billion last year (2021)," mostly due to the revenue from Twitter Blue subscriptions.

On July 29th, 2022, Mashable^[6] reported that Twitter Blue was "67 percent more expensive," increasing from $2.99 to $4.99 per month. This occurred after Musk stopped wanting to buy Twitter but months before his eventual acquisition of the company.

Edit Button

On September 1st, 2022, Twitter announced via a tweet^[7] that it was introducing an "Edit" button (seen below). At first, it was just a beta test and would be rolled out to all Twitter Blue subscribers later in the month.

In early October 2022, multiple Twitter Blue subscribers confirmed the "Edit" button's existence. This occurred on October 3rd, 2022, announced in a tweet^[8] from the Twitter Blue account. On October 6th, the "Edit" button was made available for U.S. Twitter Blue subscribers, announced via a different Twitter Blue account tweet^[9] (shown below).

Twitter $8 Blue Checkmarks

On October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk officially acquired Twitter, becoming its CEO. In accordance with his history of interest in Twiter Blue's rapid, revenue progression, on October 30th, news outlet Platformer^[10] was the first to report that Musk was mulling over charging a monthly $5 fee for the previously free verification mark as a part of Twitter Blue, Twitter's premium subscription service. Later that day, The Verge^[11] reported that Musk considered changing the cost of Twitter Blue from $4.99 to $19.99 per month.

On October 31st, 2022, writer Stephen King posted a tweet^[12] in which he wrote that he would stop using Twitter if the change was instituted, adding that Twitter should be paying him rather than vice versa. On November 1st, Musk then replied^[13] to the tweet, commenting that "Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers" and suggesting that the price should be $8 (exchange shown below).

Multiple humorous reactions and memes were levied in the following days. For instance, on November 1st, content creator Nopeify tweeted^[14] a meme referencing the change that gained over 1,300 retweets and 45,400 likes in one day (shown below, left). On November 2nd, Redditor^[15] Mobanite08 shared a Pimples? Zero meme about the proposed change that received over 5,800 upvotes on /r/memes in eight hours (shown below, right).

Twitter Blue Verified Accounts "Official" Label

On November 8th, 2022, early-stage products manager at Twitter Esther Crawford posted a tweet^[16] that addressed user concerns over how to distinguish between Twitter Blue subscribers and actual verified accounts in the future. She stated that there would be an "Official" label listed in the bio of a verified account underneath its username (example shown below). She further stated in a reply^[17] that, "Not all previously verified accounts will get the 'Official' label and the label is not available for purchase. Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures."

Online Reactions

Various reactions surfaced in November 2022 regarding what two different kinds of verified "blue checkmarks" meant for Twitter. For instance, on November 8th, 2022, Twitter^[18] user Julian_Epp used the George Bush Learning About 9/11 format to say, “Sir, a second checkmark has hit Twitter,” gaining roughly 12,000 likes in one day (shown below, left). Also on November 8th, Twitter^[19] user D3NNI_yt tweeted a humorous solution to possible verified account impersonators, gaining roughly 5,900 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Verified Account Parodies and Impersonators / Scam Concerns

Due to the capability of any Twitter account to gain a blue checkmark status via a Twitter Blue subscription, concerns over impersonators and scams emerged. Shortly after, scams as a result of the aforementioned conflict were then purported by users on November 8th, 2022. For instance, on November 9th, Twitter^[20] user GillianDN tweeted evidence of a blue checkmark account impersonating Twitter's official account in order to trick users into a crypto scam. GillianDN's tweet received roughly 1,300 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Later on November 9th, 2022, Twitter^[21] user oneunderscore__ exposed an account pretending to be LeBron James that faked a LeBron announcement that he was leaving the Los Angeles Lakers and returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Twitter user oneunderscore__ received roughly 2,500 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Also on November 9th, verified Twitter^[22] Blue user named Jason_Calcanis was pretending to be Jason Calcanis and tweeted about Jeffrey Epstein (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References