On the official Twitter accounts of Indian news organisations and prominent leaders, Twitter has begun to show a new tick badge with the phrase ‘Official’. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gadgets 360 have earned ticks. For the time being, the former ‘blue tick’ symbol that signifies that an account has been validated is still shown. The well recognised blue ticks, which formerly indicated that an account belonged to a notable institution or person, are now awarded to all subscribers to Twitter Blue, the company’s premium service, which has lately generated a stir.
Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter, made a number of significant announcements right away, including the redefinition of the blue tick and an increase in the pricing of Twitter Blue to $8 (about Rs. 650) per month from the original $20 suggestion (approximately Rs. 1,630). Musk has also said that before the end of November, he intends to expand Twitter Blue to other nations, including India, and that rates would be adjusted in accordance with purchasing power parity.
Additionally, Twitter Blue subscribers will receive greater placement in reply threads, trending topic lists, and search results. As a result, paid voices will be amplified, which Musk is hoping would increase use of the premium subscription service. Critics soon pointed out that this, by enabling anybody who purchases Twitter Blue to seem to be a verified account, negates the purpose of verification. This also sparked a wave of purposeful efforts to imitate famous people, including Musk. Musk quickly stressed that parody accounts must expressly state their status as such in their names or risk being permanently banned from the network.
A second checkmark with the term ‘Official’ has started to appear underneath the account’s handle and name on profile pages and in search results as Twitter’s apparent response to this. The criteria Twitter will use to determine which accounts earn this badge and whether everyone who was previously qualified for verification would be able to receive one are yet unknown.
Musk has been in the headlines ever since his acquisition of Twitter was approved. Most recently, Musk has taken steps to reduce expenses, including a massive round of layoffs in which an estimated 50% of all employees, including entire teams and a significant portion of Twitter’s Indian workforce, were forced to leave the company, leaving work unfinished and teams understaffed. Musk first fired the previous CEO and disbanded the entire board of directors.
Post Your Comments