Twitter has been under fire recently for its new Twitter Blue subscription service. Some users have been creating trolling accounts masquerading as real businesses and tweeting damaging things. For example, someone created an Eli Lilly account and tweeted “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.” People thought it was Eli Lilly and it wasn’t, and unfortunately the false tweet caused Eli Lilly stock to drop by 4.5%.
The launch of this product was unfortunately not well executed. A major issue was the lack of differentiation between celebrities and respected media figures who are verified users and those who have twitter blue check marks. To prevent something like this from happening the check marks should have been tiered or colored differently.
Twitter’s decision to launch without a beta test was a recipe for disaster. And that’s exactly what happened. Combined with the recent layoffs and the poor planning of the Twitter Blue launch the company is experiencing embarrassment. It’s unfortunate they were unable to do a beta; but there was no way to gather data before going live, so Twitter took a huge gamble that didn’t pay off.
In addition to the check mark Twitter blue now allows users to edit their tweets, some think that this is not a great idea since the service is 12 years old and should have already had this ability implemented for free. The verification check mark was something that twitter should have made more accessible to users.
I know personally I have worked on multiple projects with media personalities and it was extremely difficult getting media personalities verified. Their initial instructions state that if you were a media figure for a well-known organization and had an accredited media byline you can be approved. However many personalities were unable to get the check mark. Then they had to wait sixty days to try again. There was no customer service you can call or even e-mail. Many people thought the check marks were tied to your twitter activity but that was not the case either.
Prior to Elon Musk purchase of Twitter, it was clear that there was a lack of clear instructions and disorganization when it came to the check mark verification process. There was no real rhyme or reason to why certain people got them and some didn’t. There was no one you could ask because there was no customer service you call or even chat with. I do think Twitter will eventually overcome their current blue fiasco but I also think it will eventually evolve into something else. The Twitter we have now will not be the Twitter we will have in the future; I believe the platform will go through a rebranding at some point; which may be for the best.