Embracing Twitter Blue: A New Era for Content Creators
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Whenever my landlady visits, my dogs bark incessantly. They react the same way to anyone they perceive as asking for money from "mommy" — that's me.
Fortunately for Elon Musk, my dogs are too far away to bark at him when my Twitter Blue subscription renews.
Yes, I did subscribe to Twitter Blue.
Twitter Blue has sparked considerable debate since Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion and dismissed the previous CEO, Parag Agrawal, on the first day.
He’s now charging users to verify their Twitter accounts. Many were taken aback by Musk's decision to charge $8 a month for a blue checkmark, and it's surprising to see how many celebrities are unwilling to pay that nominal fee.
Originally, the plan was to charge $20. The backlash was immediate, and when it launched, trolls seized the opportunity to impersonate others, even creating fake accounts for major brands that led to significant losses. For instance, when someone posed as Eli Lilly and claimed insulin was free, the company suffered a 4.3% drop in stock value.
Hey, do you want Twitter to go bankrupt?
As Musk tweeted to Stephen King:
> We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?
Thanks to Stephen King, the price is now more palatable at $8, yet billionaire LeBron James still refuses to pay for Twitter Blue.
I suppose that's why these celebrities have billions, and I don’t.
I pay for my Medium subscription at $5 monthly, allowing me to read as many stories as I want. After all, what's Medium without indulging in Hogan Torah’s work more than three times a month?
Medium operates on a freemium model, allowing readers to enjoy three stories a month for free. The revenue from subscriptions is used to compensate writers, including myself.
> So, here’s where I could share my referral link to earn a few dollars that add to my Medium Partner Program income each month.
I must admit that there are times when I struggle to make payments. Some months, my earnings from writing barely cover my personal expenses.
However, the subscription pays for itself if you craft meaningful and valuable content for your audience. You can earn enough to contemplate leaving your job and pursuing freelance writing full-time.
I’ve been a freelancer since 2020.
Now that I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue, it must prove its worth; otherwise, I can't justify keeping it beyond my initial month.
With Musk announcing new features, perhaps I can continue with Twitter Blue if I find a way to monetize my presence there.
What if Twitter Blue operated similarly to Medium, treating the blue checkmark as a membership badge? It doesn’t even require writers in the Medium Partner Program to become members first.
Nothing more, nothing less.
The premium features should entice anyone to subscribe to Twitter Blue.
Today’s announcement of new features may leave you either thrilled or amused. From its origins of 140 characters, Twitter has expanded to 280 characters, and now, with Twitter Blue, users can tweet up to 10,000 characters—two and a half times more than the previous limit of 4,000.
Although tweets will still be truncated to the first 280 characters.
> Do you know how many words fit into 10,000 characters?
> Answer: 10,000 characters typically equates to between 1,428 and 2,500 words, depending on whether spaces are counted. If spaces are excluded, it ranges from 1,666 to 3,334 words. — Source
That’s already a blog post that could take at least six minutes to read.
Why would any writer or content creator be interested in producing such lengthy content on Twitter?
Surprisingly, Twitter is entering the creator economy, allowing users to offer subscriptions to their followers, akin to OnlyFans or Substack.
This opportunity launches today, requiring just 500 followers to qualify.
> Do what you love and earn money doing it.
> Provide your most dedicated followers with exclusive content and receive monthly payments for your creations. It’s a win-win. — Twitter
Monetization
Every content creator seeks ways to increase their earnings. This is why it's crucial to repurpose our content.
With Twitter's new monetization features, it becomes yet another platform where anyone can profit from their content—be it a tweet, blog post, or video.
It’s always beneficial when we earn instead of allowing companies to absorb all the profits— the era of social media 1.0 is long gone.
But can one truly make money on Twitter? It’s too early to determine, as the monetization program is still in its early stages.
What’s already evident is that some creators have leveraged the platform for brand recognition, guiding their Twitter followers to gated content, similar to numerous OnlyFans creators and social media influencers.
Twitter is not only a divisive platform; it effectively amplifies brand messages. As content creators, we must remember:
> You are your brand.
Platforms like Twitter assist us in this endeavor.
I recognize the potential for video content on Twitter. If only it had developed Vine further, it could have evolved into what we now know as TikTok.
Consider that conversations occur in real-time on Twitter—something no other social media platform manages as effectively.
If Musk strategically positions Twitter, videos could gain traction, making it a viable competitor to TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube.
If Disney can become a strong contender against Netflix, why can't Twitter rival TikTok?
Perhaps before Musk aims to transform Twitter into a super app, he should focus on making it a comprehensive content viewing platform.
New Twitter Blue Features
One significant limitation of the original Twitter was the lack of an editing option—a feature that Jack Dorsey was hesitant to implement. However, it took Musk mere months to introduce it as a premium offering.
It’s simple: if you desire it, you must pay for it.
I’ve tried it, and it functions well. As a Twitter Blue subscriber, not only can you edit your tweets, but you also have a thirty-minute window to do so, giving ample time to correct typos or add your favorite emojis.
Recently, Twitter added formatting features, allowing users to bold and italicize text—similar to what Medium offers for free.
As for what a 10,000-character tweet looks like, here’s an example of my blog post.
With 9,871 characters, I’ll let you judge its visual appeal and readability.
This tweet is lengthy enough for a nine-minute read. Will users be willing to pay to access it?
Who knows?
I have to wait for my monetization approval to find out.
Final Thoughts
If only Musk had branded Twitter Blue differently, perhaps labeling it a "membership badge," the reaction from previously verified accounts wouldn’t have been so dramatic.
Mainstream media outlets would likely be less resistant to paying such fees. For instance, organizations like The New York Times must pay at least $1,000 monthly to retain their verified accounts or gold checkmarks.
Even though all subscriptions come with premium features, these organizations critical of Musk will always find a way to challenge the world’s wealthiest man, who seems to enjoy provoking them.
However, legacy news organizations do not rely on Twitter for survival, nor are they actively seeking platforms to repurpose content for profit.
It’s the smaller content creators who stand to gain from Twitter Blue. If we can overlook our frustrations with Elon Musk, we might view Twitter as a pathway to enhance our journey as content creators, including us—writers.
Didn’t I mention earlier that our stories lose value if no one reads them? Treat Twitter as a tool for content syndication.
Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts about Twitter Blue in the comments below.