Connect with us

SOCIAL

Musk Outlines New $8 Per Month Twitter Blue Package, Including Verification Ticks

Published

on

Twitter Announces Price Hike for Twitter Blue Subscriptions

It seems that Elon Musk wasn’t trolling when he suggested charging $20 per month for a blue verified tick.

As per Musk’ most recent tweets on his reformation of the platform, Musk now says that they’re planning to offer verification ticks to all users for $8 per month, to combat the class divide in the app.

Taking on the class divide by charging people $96 per year to highlight the amount of expendable income that they have is a fairly odd take, but I guess, when you’re worth $223 billion, everything is cheap, right?

But that’s not all. If you are willing to pay for this new, $8 per month, verification tier of Twitter Blue, you’ll also get:

  • Priority in replies, mentions and search
  • Ability to post long video and audio
  • Half as many ads
  • Paywall bypass for selected publishers

The final element relates to the already present ‘ad-free articles’ element of the Twitter Blue package, which, interestingly, Twitter has also canceled, with participating publishers sent this notification overnight.

Starting tomorrow, we will stop displaying the “Twitter Blue Publisher” label on any Tweets containing your articles. We will no longer be sending a Twitter Blue token when people on Twitter access articles from your properties. This will prevent the ad-free experience on your site from loading.

I guess Musk didn’t like some of the participating publishers, or he wants to give publishers a chance to agree to new terms before the release of his updated Twitter Blue package?

I don’t know, but what we do now know is that Musk is looking to eliminate a perceived class system on Twitter by giving people who can afford to pay their own blue checkmarks, as well as the capacity to get their tweets seen by even more people than the freeloading ‘peasants’.

Which is an utterly confusing solution, if this is the actual problem Elon’s looking to solve for.

The other side is that Musk sees this revised Twitter Blue process as being a way to combat bots and trolls, by making it cost-prohibitive for troll farms to operate, and eliminating the use of verified profiles for scams.

Some scammers have been able to purchase blue ticks from previously approved users (or via internal connections), which then adds extra heft to their initiatives, while changing a fee, as Musk has noted in the past, would enable Twitter to ‘authenticate all real humans’ in the app. Because bots can’t pay, and if all the real people get authenticated (i.e. pay $8 per month to use the app), then the divide, in Musk’s eyes, will no longer be rich and poor, but human and bot, so you can more easily identify the scam profiles in the app.

Which is stupid. For one, nobody’s going to pay $100 per year to use Twitter for a couple of extra features – or more correctly, while some will pay, few people are going to pay to participate in a more exclusive Twitter platform, where the folk who are well off enough to afford it get priority, and everyone else is relegated to the shadows.

That’s not a path to growth, and when the shysters and grifters and Web3 rich kids realize that they can dominate the app by simply paying to get their messages seen by more people, the conversations is going to get really boring, really fast.

Here’s what’ll happen: Around half of Twitter’s 238 million daily active users will reduce their usage of app straight away. They’ll then move on to other apps to stay informed, and as they do, more engaging conversations will start happening in other places, and the people who stayed on Twitter will start to stray to these other apps as well, as a means to stay up on what’s happening. Twitter will get more and more flooded with people looking to use it as a megaphone for their ‘thought leadership’, and more regular users, especially younger audiences, will keep migrating away to other, more vibrant, more inclusive conversations.

If this is implemented, and it’s maintained for some time, while some people will pay, it’s a path to obsolescence for the app, as it will spark new alternatives for breaking news and discussion in other places.

But Musk seems convinced that subscriptions are a key path forward, both as a revenue lever and as a tool to combat spam/bots. And it seems that he is at least going to give this a shot – though it seems flawed from the outset.



Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

SOCIAL

7 tips for creating great digital presence

Published

on

7 tips for creating great digital presence

DEAR READERS: Companies of all kinds are finding it imperative to build a digital strategy to compete in a world where almost everyone is shopping and doing business online. How can small companies, including startups and those with just a few employees, get the kind of following on their websites and social media platforms that they’ll need to succeed?






There are several steps to take to build your business online.




It is a problem many companies are trying to get their arms around, according to everyone I reached out to. Here are a few tips to get started on the road to social media success:

Develop clearly defined goals. “Determine your objectives, whether they are enhancing brand awareness, generating leads or driving sales growth, as they will serve as guiding principles for developing your strategy,” suggests Dmitriy Shelepin CEO and head of SEO at Miromind.

Identify your ideal followers. That means going beyond demographics like gender and age, according to brand consultant Faith James, CEO of The Personal Branding Consultancy. “It’s important to go deeper into their psychographics — how they think, what motivates them, what their core desires are,” James says. “By focusing on the psychographics, you focus on the emotional connectors that build a stronger connection which goes beyond just the transactional ‘buy my stuff.’ ”

People are also reading…

Choose and prioritize platforms. Shelepin says it is crucial to choose platforms “that resonate with your desired audience and align with your business objectives,” and suggests focusing on one or two of those platforms “to deliver quality over quantity.”

Provide value. James says value can come in various forms, but stresses that it boils down to “helping your audience get a small win in the areas that are meaningful to them.

“If a hair salon is looking to grow their following, they might offer tips on their website and social media platforms such as ‘How to Have Your Hair Color Last Longer,’ ‘3 Tips on How to Beat the Humidity Frizz,’ or ‘How to Avoid Chlorine Damage While Swimming at the Pool,’ ” James says.

Value also can come by educating and informing your audience with things like educational blog posts that establish industry expertise, Shelepin adds.

Invite engagement. This is an essential step, James stresses. “In all instances, the business would invite the audience to share their own hair drama stories, share their own tricks they are using to make their hair color last longer, and invite the audience to submit their own questions about hair care,” James explains.

Build relationships. “Use social media to connect with customers, respond promptly, and share relevant content,” Shelepin says.

Don’t forget about email. It is a great way to maintain customer relationships and to deliver exclusive content and special offers like discounts, Shelepin explains.

Shelepin acknowledges that businesses won’t realize success in the digital realm overnight, but stresses that success is possible to achieve.

“It’s important to maintain consistency, in creating content and engaging on media platforms, as building an online presence takes time,” Shelepin concludes. “By adhering to these strategies, small businesses can cultivate a strong digital presence, enabling them to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.”

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

SOCIAL

LinkedIn Expands ID Verification to More Regions

Published

on

LinkedIn Expands ID Verification to More Regions

LinkedIn continues to expand its own identity verification offering, via a new partnership with Persona which will enable users in more regions to confirm their ID in the app.

As you can see in this sequence, with LinkedIn’s new ID verification process, users in certain regions now able to confirm their ID documents with Persona, in order get a verification badge added to your LinkedIn profile, which confirms that you’ve uploaded and verified your government ID with one of LinkedIn’s partner providers.

LinkedIn Persona ID confirmation

You can see the verified icon next to my profile name in the second image, which adds another level of assurance that I am, in fact, a real human being, with a government ID linked to my identity.

LinkedIn initially launched ID verification for users in the U.S. back in April, via a partnership with identity platform CLEAR, which is best known for providing faster check-in at airports. LinkedIn then expanded its CLEAR partnership to enable users in Canada and Mexico to also confirm their documents, with this new partnership providing the ID confirmation option to a lot more users.

As per LinkedIn:

In Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, the identity verification is performed by Persona, a third-party identity verification service. It’s available in each country for those with a valid NFC-enable passport.”

(Note: It may not be available to all users in all of these regions as yet)

So, the requirement is that you need a government-issued passport, with an NFC chip, and a means to scan that chip in as part of the process, though Persona notes that “if you’ve ever used your phone to tap for payment, then it is NFC-enabled”.

So now, a lot more LinkedIn users will be able to confirm their identity, and add an extra layer of assurance to their profile, helping to let people know that they are dealing with an actual person, and that your information is more likely to be legit.

And given the latest advances in generative AI, and LinkedIn’s rising push to add generative AI tools into every aspect of its platform, it does seem like this could become an essential step, as more bot profiles and personas get added to social apps.

That’s been part of the justification for X’s broader push on ID verification, which has now stretched to charging new users in some regions a small fee to interact in the app.

X owner Elon Musk has repeatedly noted the rising risk of AI-enabled bots taking over social apps, with user payments, in his view, being the only way to stop them. But LinkedIn’s trying another approach, and it does seem like providing free ID confirmation will be more widely adopted, which could make it more effective in this respect.

And by outsourcing the actual verification element to a third party, it’s also less labor intensive, though it does also mean that another group is involved, which can make some feel a little uneasy about sharing their documentation and selfies.

Still, it’s a pretty simple process, and it’s free, and if LinkedIn starts putting more emphasis on verified accounts, by say, ranking them higher in search results, that could get a lot more people taking it up, and adding a gray tick.

The other question then is what do CLEAR and Persona get out of this deal?

In both cases these ID platforms get more data, with users also required to open a CLEAR account when confirming their info via its system. Persona will also take in some user data, which will expand its database, though you can opt out of letting either company keep your info in perpetuity.

Persona also notes that it will generate “facial geometries for both the image obtained from your government ID and the user submitted selfie”, which it will then use in its analysis with your ID to confirm your info, though Persona won’t keep your geometric data on file.

Essentially, you’re going to have to trust your ID data with another company, which not everyone will be comfortable with. But if you’re okay with it, again, the process is easy, and it could add some extra assurance to your LinkedIn presence.

You can learn more about LinkedIn’s ID confirmation options here.

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

SOCIAL

Ad Spend Wasted On Invalid Traffic Could Reach $72B In 2024 11/28/2023

Published

on

Ad Spend Wasted On Invalid Traffic Could Reach $72B In 2024 11/28/2023

The latest analysis of the effects of
invalid traffic/IVT estimates that the problem will result in $72.37 billion in wasted ad spend in 2024 — up 33% from an estimated $54.63 billion wasted in 2022.

The report, from marketing efficiency platform Lunio, was based on an analysis of 2.6 …



Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

Trending