Twitter had begun this Wednesday to combine the blue verification mark for subscribers, which will be paid and will cost eight dollars a month, with another badge, gray, for “government accounts, companies, business partners, main media, publishers and some public figures”, as Esther Crawford had announced in a thread on this social network.
"We are introducing the 'Official' label to select accounts," announced Twitter's product executive. However, in less than 24 hours, the new owner of the company, Elon Musk, has rectified her directive with a tweet and decided to substantially modify the initiative to exclude the media and personalities from this new cataloging.
According to Crawford's thread, the gray tag cannot be purchased or automatically earned by having a previously verified account. It will be the social network company, acquired by Elon Musk, that will decide on its inclusion.
Finally, it was Musk who has decided to substantially modify the initiative to leave media networks and public personalities out of the “official” accounts. With a brief "I just killed it", Musk has communicated his decision in a response to one of the users.
“Keep in mind that Twitter will do a lot of dumb things in the coming months. We will leave what works and change what does not”, added Musk.
Until now, the blue check mark next to the username meant that Twitter had confirmed that the account belongs to the person or company that owned it.
New Twitter boss Elon Musk announced the new subscription service earlier this month as part of his effort to monetize the social network and make it less reliant on ads. Twitter is currently a free service for most users.
Regardless of the shake up over the last few days so far, we better get ready for a much bumpier ride. Musk Twitter changes have only just begun.
After last Friday the company laid off almost 50% of the world's workforce (some 3,700 employees are estimated), now it seems that they are trying to recruit back part of those laid off because some were dismissed by mistake and others were more valuable than he thought.
Everyone knows changes happen when there is a change in a company's ownership, that is basic 101 knowledge, but the unpredictability and in the moment actions of this billionaire in such short space of time are a public display we have not seen in a while.
Let's see what the next few months will bring to Twitter's journey. In the meantime, if you are interested in working for Twitter, some new jobs have already been advertized on Linked In.
Elise Quevedo
Author, Advisor, Storyteller
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