Although Elon Musk’s economic plans go through improve the profitability of the social network through Twitter Blue, by associating this modality of the social network to those verified, after having applied a price increase (the second of the year) to the subscription. And yes, it is true that verification is currently a highly coveted asset on Twitter, but of course, it is in its current conditions of exclusivity. In other words, at the moment in which its only meaning becomes that the user is paying eight dollars a month, it is evident that the perception of its value will decrease substantially.
As I stated a few days ago, it is clear that the main motivation for all the actions that Elon Musk is carrying out is economic. The payment of the annual interest for the credits is approaching you needed to complete the purchase, and the operating costs of the social network are very, very high. The accounts continue without going out and in these circumstances, it is normal that even the greatest billionaire in the world fears for his finances. Maybe it’s something you should have thought about before launching into the purchase of the social network, but hey, what do I know, I can’t imagine how things look from the position of Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg and company.
In any case, and as surprising as it may seem (and I insist on it, it really seems to me something very surprising), It seems that many decisions are being made on the spur of the moment, without the necessary preliminary phase of analysis. The most recent example is found in the attempt to reverse part of the layoffs last Friday, part of which was opened by mistake, while others would have been thoughtless, so Twitter would have concluded, a posteriori , that those people were necessary for the company’s current plans.
But let’s go back to Twitter Blue and the advantages that this subscription model provides to users. In this regard, and although now everyone puts the focus on the verified, the truth is that its most useful function is to be able to correct the tweets already publisheda long-awaited feature that has finally debuted recently, albeit as something exclusive to paying users, something that does not seem to change in the future.
One of Musk’s decisions, surely because of its costs, was to eliminate the agreement signed with multiple publishers, by which Twitter Blue subscribers could access their publications without advertising. This feature was removed overnight, causing discontent among US Twitter Blue subscribers. Thus, we can understand that in return, Musk decided that paid accounts will only see half of ad placements than the rest of the users.
But here is a problem. It is that, as media such as Platformer are mentioning, this can have a very negative effect on Twitter accounts. According to some reports, andThis cut in advertising that Twitter Blue accounts will see will result in a drop in advertising revenue of six dollars per user per month. This is already a significant “bite” at the $7.99 monthly subscription cost, compared to the current model. And it is even worse in all cases in which the subscriptions are contracted and paid through the Apple App Store and Google Play, the usual 30% commission of both stores will have to be subtracted from the monthly fee.
To put it more clearly. In its format until a few days ago, Twitter Blue generated a monthly income of $3.99. Therefore, if we subtract 30% from that amount (for the store’s commission) and add the $12 per month that it generated from advertising revenue, we get an income of $14.97 per month. However, if the data published by Platformer is confirmed, that is, that revenue from advertising would drop from twelve to six euros, the gross income for all those accounts would drop to $11.59 per month.
In other words, and contrary to what one might think at first, Twitter Blue accounts could become less profitable for the company than free ones. And this, compared to the plans of the social network to substantially increase the volume of subscribers with the verified claim. It doesn’t seem like a well-studied business plan, really.
