Elon Musk is opening a new playbook which is a really great one: “Just days after taking over Twitter, Elon Musk has issued an ultimatum to engineers over a new project. According to a report from The Verge, Musk wants to launch a pay-for-play verification system in which verified users are charged $20 per month. The kicker is that engineers have until November 7 to launch the scheme or face being fired. Employees were only told of the project on October 30.”
Now that he owns Twitter, Elon Musk has given employees their first ultimatum: Meet his deadline to introduce paid verification on Twitter or pack up and leave. The directive is to change Twitter Blue, the company’s optional, $4.99 a month subscription that unlocks additional features, into a more expensive subscription that also verifies users, according to people familiar with the matter and internal correspondence seen by The Verge. Twitter is currently planning to charge $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription. Under the current plan, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark. Employees working on the project were told on Sunday that they need to meet a deadline of November 7th to launch the feature or they will be fired.
Indeed, on LinkedIn, if they ask me to pay monthly to be verified and get that sign, I will do that. Why? LinkedIn is our CNN, BBC, NTA, New York Times, etc in our business. With that sign, possibly many people will have confidence that it is the real “Ndubuisi Ekekwe” that they are reading. In the end, it can help our business.
There is no debate: if you run a business on LinkedIn and on Twitter, paying that $20 should be part of your budget. That is the low hanging fruit which I do think LinkedIn should make available. Digital business works on credibility and trust, and if a small blue sign can do it, great things happen.
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My blog Tekedia brings in close to 300,000 clicks/views monthly (Google brings 60k clicks every 28 days). We do not run the typical Google ads therein. The strategy is to convert a portion of that 300k. Over the quarters, we have done well in that space. We have no marketing department because we have a space where people come to read. If LinkedIn makes this sign available, from a business viewpoint, we will see it as deepening credibility on our channel.
Comment 1: As long as I’m paying to use premium, I do not see the need to be paying for badge verification, my own opinion
My Response: Until someone asks you “Are you [AS]?” even though they are chatting AS. But if verified, that question will go. I have no use of premium because I am a village boy. I just want people to know that this is the authentic real village boy.
There is no need for prayer. This is a business decision. If you wear tie to interviews or put a shoe to work, my office is LinkedIn, I want to have a great sign. I do not come here to entertain people. This is my office. I just want it to be superb. I use money to make money!
Comment 2: With that playbook, in no time, the tick would lose its value. When something moves from “earned” to “bought”, it becomes just a matter of the coins.
My Response: “When something moves from “earned” to “bought”, it becomes just a matter of the coins.” – certificates have not lost their values because we pay to go to school. It is an illusion to think that because the man wants to be paid to offer service that the service will lose value. If that is the thinking, the biggest and most respected companies will be NGOs. Twitter is not an NGO. IBM gave software free for decades with no renewal contract.
Microsoft came and said you have to renew your license yearly, otherwise, you have stolen it. Toyota allowed you for years to buy a car and resell. Tesla came and said if you resell, the new buyer must come and pay us more money on software. That is the new norm.
Making things free does not make them better. IBM is worth less than 10% of Microsoft value. Tesla can buy the top 10 car brands in the world.
Comment 2b: I think you missed my point. The one reason I’d respect a blue tick on Ndubuisi is because I know he went through the tedious process and qualified to be verified. If, on the other hand, I know that Ndubuisi got the tick by paying just 20 dollars a month, that becomes common. Literally then, anyone can open a page, pay $20 and get a tick. Maybe truly, a name as pronounced as yours can’t get granted the tick for someone else, but a little tweak to the name and several Ndubuisis with a tick will emerge.
Comment 3: Somehow I disagree with this, it will only bring rise to the spread of fake news, negativity in our beloved Twitter, this means that some span news outlet can just buy Twitter verification this is not the aim of social media
My Response: You need to read the post well. That you paid $20 does not mean that if you cannot be verified that you will be verified. What he is saying is this: whatever you are doing now, can people pay for you to audit and confirm their identities. In other words, instead of doing 100 per month with your budget, can you have more money to do 1000 per month since people will pay to be verified. Many will pay and fail and that is part of it. It is not automatic that you will get a badge after paying!
Twitter Plans to Charge Users $20 For Verification Badge
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Ndubuisi Ekekwe, PhD, Chairman of FASMICRO Group, is the Lead Faculty in Tekedia Mini-MBA. He writes regularly in the Harvard Business Review. Email: [email protected]
I think it’s a great idea, we can’t be talking about bots on Twitter without democratizing the vetting process. I mean, what does it really mean to be known before you can be verified? There are lots of idiots on Twitter with verified sign, so which domain of knowledge did they spread before they became famous? Pay for your verification, so that when next you tweet, at least we know a particular human or registered business is tweeting.
And if LinkedIn wishes to introduce same, they simply need to make naira payment option available, because we cannot afford to start chasing dollars just to pay for a blue tick. LinkedIn Nigeria office will become a thing.
Elon Musk taught automobile world how to do car business, now he’s about to teach same to social media universe. Mark Zuckerberg will soon regain all his lost glory, because he’s never appreciated enough for all the free things he gave us, but when you start paying before you can have a voice on social media, then there won’t be need to blame Mark for all the things that have gone wrong in our world.
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