Tuesday April 25, 2023 | NATIONAL
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Twitter Blue subscriber verified accounts are now ‘prioritized’. Twitter owner Elon Musk posted that on his Twitter feed today, April 25.
Musk had promised that Twitter users who subscribe to the platform’s premium service would be prioritized in replies and could participate in polls.
The changes which Musk has made on Twitter after his takeover have been wide-ranging. Among other things, subscribers also have access to the Edit function (account holder can make changes to a Tweet within the first 30 minutes of posting) and other features.
During recent developments, several celebrities but also a wide range of elected officials and media personalities have lost their verified blue ticks from their Twitter accounts.
Free vs paid:
As multiple account holders have started paying, the announcement is thought to be motivating others to also pay for the blue checkmark verification feature. However, there is also pushback from those who feel they shouldn’t have to pay for use of social media (perhaps not recognizing the cost and complexity to run a comprehensive tech service) and who have political concerns about the open editorial content policy that Musk has brought in.
The blue tick previously presumably served as a way of protecting well-known individuals from impersonation and tackling false information. But it also excluded legitimate persons and businesses who were unable to succeed in convincing Twitter of their validity under arcane and overly restrictive previous parameters.
Twitter first introduced the free blue checkmark system in 2009 to help users identify that celebrities, politicians, companies and brands, news organizations and other accounts “of public interest” were genuine and not impostors or parody accounts. But others found themselves unjustifiably excluded.
The blue checkmark verification fee is presently $8/month USD ($10/mo+GST CDN).
Grey and Gold:
Any organization that purchases a subscription to Verified Organizations will receive a gold checkmark and square avatar if they are a business or non-profit, or a grey checkmark and circular avatar if they are a governmental or multilateral organization.
==== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a long-standing publication in the west shore of South Vancouver Island (fourth in a series that began with print publications MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, and West Shore Voice News 2014-2020, which then emerged as Island Social Trends fully online in mid-2020).
Based in Langford, IslandSocialTrends.ca covers news of the west shore (including Langford, Colwood, Metchosin, Sooke, View Royal, and Juan de Fuca) as well as the Greater Victoria area and south Vancouver Island, with insights on BC and national issues.
Island Social Trends editor is Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Cert PR. Ms Brooke is a long-time journalist, delivering news through a socioeconomic lens, and now reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery. During 1998 to 2012 she also operated an online e-training portal.
Island Social Trends continues to build archives in various topics including: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY | BUSINESS & ECONOMY