Nov. 5 (Reuters) – In the first major overhaul of Elon Musk’s social media platform, Twitter updated the app on Apple’s App Store on Saturday, charging $8 for the popular blue check verification mark. started.
The change comes a week after Musk acquired the social media company in a $44 billion deal. The billionaire entrepreneur and his CEO of electric car maker Tesla (TSLA.O) has vowed to cut Twitter’s staff in half and charge users more.
In an update for Apple iOS devices, Twitter says that for $7.99 a month, if you “sign up now,” you’ll get a blue check mark next to your username “just like the celebrities, businesses, and politicians you already follow.” I said I could receive it.
Before Musk took over, a blue checkmark next to a username meant Twitter verified that the account belonged to the person or company claiming it. It wasn’t immediately clear if Twitter had other ways or plans to verify user identities other than charging a fee.
Other benefits of the update include “half ads,” the ability to post longer videos to Twitter, and priority ranking for quality content, according to the iOS notice.
Twitter and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment via Tesla.
Twitter’s new boss flagged the update earlier this week in a move to monetize the social media network and make it less reliant on advertising. Twitter is currently free for most users.
Twitter’s latest update says the verified new service will be available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
In a tweet on Saturday, Musk said, “We’ve made sure it’s working well in the first set of countries, and will roll it out globally once translation work is complete.”
Twitter Blue will be rolling out in India “hopefully within a month,” Musk tweeted in response to questions from his followers.
In a separate tweet, Musk added that “fixing search is a top priority” on Twitter.
“We can beat that,” he replied in another tweet when a user pointed out that YouTube gives creators 55% of their advertising revenue.
Musk tweeted, “Twitter will soon add the ability to attach long text to tweets, ending the absurdity of notepad screenshots, followed by creator monetization of all forms of content.” would,” he added.
As of Saturday, the update to Twitter Blue remained at its previous price of $4.99.
Shortly after the update rolled out to users, Twitter’s early-stage product executive Esther Crawford said the new service hadn’t rolled out yet.
“The new Blue isn’t out there yet. We’re still in the sprint to launch, but we’re testing and pushing changes in real time, so some people see us doing updates. maybe,” she said. Tweet.
Earlier this week, Crawford went viral after retweeting a photo of himself sleeping on the office floor of his San Francisco headquarters following the Musk takeover.
“When your team is on a 24/7 deadline, #SleepWhereYouWork may be necessary.”
Additional reporting by Megan Davies. Her Sneha Bhowmik from Bangalore.Editing by Daniel Wallis and Ken Lee
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