Many advertisers have decided to pause the promotion of their products and services on Twitter at the arrival of Elon Musk
The serial entrepreneur took control of the social network on Oct. 27 in exchange for a big check for $44 billion.
He immediately embarked on a radical transformation of Twitter to mark a break with the previous team. He decided to make the microblogging website a bastion of Republicans and conservatives who felt they had been muzzled by Twitter 1.0. Musk reactivated all accounts banned for violation of the content management policy.
Baffled, many advertisers had felt they wanted to see the platform's new direction on what tweets will now be acceptable on Twitter. They feared Musk's laissez-faire approach would turn Twitter into a "hellscape."
They had therefore suspended their ads, which was a bad blow for the firm because advertising represents 91% of revenue in the second quarter of 2022, the last period for which the data is public. Musk had said that this decision weakened Twitter financially.
As a result, the billionaire has been trying to reinvent Blue, the paid subscription service of the platform. He decided to integrate the blue checkmark, a sign that the identity of the holder of an account was verified, to Blue. In doing so, he had raised the price of Blue to $7.99 per month, excluding iPhone owners who must pay $11 per month.
In addition to this check mark, subscribers to Blue also have new features, including the possibility of editing a tweet.
The checkmark was free under Twitter 1.0. At the time, it was awarded to companies, public figures, influencers, entities, institutions and journalists.
A New Payment Program for Brands
Musk also decided to differentiate individuals from companies and institutions and politicians. The check mark remains blue for individuals but is now gray for institutions and politicians and finally gold for companies. If he had announced that anyone wanting to keep or obtain a blue checkmark had to pay, the serial entrepreneur had said nothing about companies and institutions.
This is no longer the case. According to The Information, Twitter considers charging companies and brands $1,000 per month for the famous gold checkmark. The move is part of a new payment plan for businesses.
The program, which is called "Verified for Organization," includes charging business accounts $1,000 per month if they want to stay verified. Any affiliate accounts under the bigger corporate account will cost an additional $50/month.
Twitter recently sent emails to businesses and brands telling them about the program.
"We're now opening the gates for early access to our Organization plan," a Twitter executive wrote to a brand on Feb. 2, according to an email posted on the platform. "As an early access subscriber, you'll get a gold checkmark for your organization and affiliation badges for its associates."
"Next week, we'll onboard you to our administration portal and you'll be eligible for Tweet boosting, which will increase the reach and distribution for your organization and its affiliates whenever you tweet."
The executive added that "if you'd like to subscribe, Verified for Organizations is $1,000 per month, and $50 per additional affiliated handle per month with one month of free affiliations."
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk has made no secret in recent months of his ambition to rebalance the contribution of subscriptions to revenue compared to ad revenue. For example, he is promising creators/influencers a fairer revenue sharing in the hope that they will favor Twitter at the expense of other social networks.
