Since his acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk has plans to restore the social media platform to its former glory when it was once the go-to for breaking news and compelling conversation.
Twitter has become synonymous with troll and bots in recent years. It seems the answer to that for Musk is to re-vamp the platform into a subscription model. His stated goal is to generate 50% of Twitter’s revenue intake from subscribers, reducing the app’s reliance on ads.
Paid Subscriptions and Verifications
To this end, Musk is reportedly considering:
- Charging users for verification ticks (and charging verified users to keep theirs)
- Charging businesses to use the platform
- Enhancing exposure for verified profiles to entice sign-ups
- Adding new verification options for ‘real humans’
At this stage, it’s hard to know when or if these will be tested or rolled out. But, we will monitor these changes for you.
If Twitter can deliver authentic and compelling content through these verified subscription packages, it would allow brands to once again leverage Twitter for thought leadership. The challenge will be convincing users to pay to keep using the app and whether or not that blue checkmark of certification will be sufficient enough to compel users to pay for it.
Staff Reductions
The Washington Post has reported that Musk will cull at least 25% of Twitter’s current roles.
Musk has already cut several senior execs, and he’s reportedly analyzing Twitter’s sales, product, engineering and legal departments,.
The Possible Return of Vine
There are hints that Elon is considering bringing Vine back from the dead, in order to directly compete with TikTok. While Vine fans are elated, we aren’t convinced a re-released Vine would go the distance beyond initial launch hype. Nonetheless, we will continue to monitor all the changes happening at Twitter and will help ensure you know how best to leverage this and all other media platforms.
If you need assistance with your paid media or social media strategy, please contact us. We are here to help.
