It happened because the boldest entrepreneur in the world has done it: “Elon Musk’s Twitter on Thursday began a purge of blue verification check marks from users who have not signed up for its subscription service, with the checks disappearing from the accounts of journalists, academics and celebrities.
“The blue checks even disappeared from the accounts of some of the most well-known and widely followed people on the social network, including Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Bill Gates, Pope Francis, former president Donald Trump and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.” This is a new revenue source for Twitter.
Good People, most times, we overestimate how customers will react because we are timid on capturing value in markets, as I explained in this Harvard Business Review piece. You give customers so much value, cruising in the ocean of waters with water everywhere, yet, there is no drop of drinking water to quench the thirst!
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Indeed, activities are everywhere on your platform, but you make no money. Pity that company which is very popular but also dispensable by users. That dispensability means no one wants to support its mission by helping it to make money.
Twitter wanted to stop that nonsense where a very popular and valuable company has no money in the bank. Respect Musk for that: if you get value, pay; otherwise, do not. I count that many will do.
I just paid because Twitter has become better with extra space for me to make my points without the limitations of 140 characters or so! My account is here: @ndekekwe.
Welcome to Social Media Monetization 2.0 where you will pay for the privilege of feeding aggregators with data and raw materials which they use to make money. Of course, you also get value in return. Fair play!
Elon Musk’s Twitter on Thursday began a purge of blue verification check marks from users who have not signed up for its subscription service, with the checks disappearing from the accounts of journalists, academics and celebrities.
The blue checks even disappeared from the accounts of some of the most well-known and widely followed people on the social network, including Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Bill Gates, Pope Francis, former president Donald Trump and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
Some government agencies — including the official account for US Citizenship and Immigration Services and accounts for some state Customs and Border Patrol offices — also lost their blue checks, which weren’t immediately replaced by the gray checks Twitter has designated for government accounts.
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Twitter had previously said it would “begin winding down” blue checks granted under its old verification system — which emphasized protecting high-profile users at risk of impersonation — on April 1. In order to stay verified, Musk said, users would have to pay $8 per month to join the platform’s Twitter Blue subscription service, which has allowed accounts to pay for verification since December.
Musk needs to drive this strategy when you consider that many entities which depend on advertisements are fading.
BuzzFeed News, the Pulitzer Prize-winning digital news website that that took the internet by storm roughly a decade ago and inspired jealousy from legacy media organizations, will shutter, BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Peretti announced Thursday. […]
Edgar Hernandez, chief revenue officer, and Christian Baesler, chief operating officer, will depart as part of the company changes, Peretti also said on Thursday. Marcela Martin, president, would “take on responsibility for all revenue functions effective immediately.”
BuzzFeed is not the only news organization facing struggles. Nearly every major news, media, and technology company has announced layoffs in recent months. Insider on Thursday, for instance, said it will lay off approximately 10% of its staff, telling employees in a memo that the “economic headwinds that have hurt many of our clients and partners are also affecting us.”
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If Musk makes Twitter better, nobody will remember that he purged blue checkmark from popular people. Those attacking him and questioning the rationale, it’s just unbridled level of entitlement, how the entity survives as a business is never their concern anyway.
Any business that bases its income purely on advertising will have troubles, either the advertisers would force you to do what you don’t agree with or you cannot predict what your revenues will look like.
No decision leaves everyone happy, but if it’s a good one, overtime those protesting and grandstanding will align. You have to first survive, before you can attempt pleasing everyone.
Nice comment here. Musk wants to be free from advertisers and the media world is attacking him.