Is it worth paying for Twitter Blue?
Table of Contents
O Twitter is one of the most used old social networks these days. The fact that you can share anything within the maximum limit of 140 characters draws the attention of many people, not to mention that it is no longer a space just for Internet users but also for large companies, celebrities and many other types of users. To further improve this experience, the platform offers the TwitterBlue, a paid service that adds a few more features for subscribers. But is it really worth it? Check below what you get with Twitter Blue.
What is Twitter Blue?
What started out as a basic tool for expressing ideas using maximum 140 characters, has now gained some more elaborate features than just a “virtual diary”. This includes audio rooms known as “Twitter Spaces”, support for voice messages in DMs, newsletters and much more. Finally, the company released what many users didn't expect could happen — a paid subscription.
called TwitterBlue, the paid subscription to the social network brings additional features and benefits for a monthly fee of US$ 11 via the iOS app or US$ 8 through the website — amounts equivalent to something around 58,40 BRL e 42,47 BRL, respectively, at the current quote.
These values are merely for curiosity purposes, as currently Twitter Blue is only available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand e Reino United🇧🇷 However Elon Musk plans to expand it to more regions in the future. Look what paying for this service can offer subscribers — and who knows to Brazilian users, one day.
blue stamp
After Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter and the overhaul of the paid service, check blue stamp it is no longer exclusive to celebrities, companies and public figures. Instead, anyone with a verified phone number who pays for Twitter Blue will receive this recognition icon — after the Twitter team has verified that that user is not impersonating someone else.
To make attempts at impersonation even more difficult, Twitter limits subscriptions to the Twitter Blue service to accounts older than 90 days, i.e. if you have a new account, you will have to wait to be actually verified. Also, changing your profile picture, display name or username will hide the verification badge until staff manually revalidate your account.
No Coming Soon blue stamp
In a recent update on the use of the blue badge on Twitter, Elon Musk states that the feature will soon be removed from the platform, stating that the “way it was used has been corrupted and used meaninglessly🇧🇷 Before Musk bought Twitter, these blue badges were used to verify individuals and entities such as key accounts that were active, authentic, and held some sort of prominence.
Last week many blue badge holders saw a new screen appear when they clicked on their respective badge, which read (in free translation): “This is a verified legacy account. It may or may not be remarkable.. "
Bookmarks
Twitter offers all users — free and paid — the option to tag tweets🇧🇷 The favorites list is private and can only be accessed by the user. This is meant to be a place where you can access all of your saved tweets within the app, rather than trying to save links, images and the tweets themselves in other ways, as the platform itself provides this tool.
With Twitter Blue these markers become something even better and more organized, resembling pasta🇧🇷 This allows paid users to categorize their favorite tweets based on their preferences. As a result, it makes it easier and faster to search through these “folders” and find what you were looking for more accurately. The feature is available on iOS, Android, and the web, and your folders will sync across platforms.
app icon
Twitter Blue allows iOS and Android users to change the app icon of Twitter on their devices. The company currently offers eight colorful icons to choose from, and in addition, Twitter sometimes features limited-time icons on certain occasions, such as Halloween. This feature is for cosmetic purposes only and does not add or improve any functionality, but many users who love customization will love it.
Themes
Although Twitter already has the theme system — mainly the famous light and dark modes — there are even more options for Twitter Blue subscribers. It allows users to choose between Blue (standard), Yellow, Red, Purple, Orange e Green🇧🇷 It's unclear why the company hasn't supported themes in the mobile app until now, let alone whether this feature will be paid to use on the site remains to be seen.
icon editing
Icon editing is another cosmetic feature that users have to pay for. Twitter is rolling out the “Spaces"and "Communities” in the bottom navigation bar, however, many users do not like having them there, considering that not all of us are interested in these sections of the application. Twitter Blue allows you to reorder, add or remove these icons from the bottom navigation bar.
The Main Page is the only fixed tab whereby users cannot remove, so users can choose up to five other icons to add to the bottom bar. Among the options available to add or remove in the bottom bar are the options Explore, Spaces, Notifications, Messages, Favorites, Lists, Profile, Top Articles, Monetization e Communities🇧🇷 There is also a “Restore to default” button in case you want to restore the navigation bar to its original state.
most viewed subjects
This feature compiles the most shared subjects by the people you follow — as well as the accounts they follow — in the last 24 hours. This allows you to easily browse or read about topics that are actively being shared on your network. Alternatively, you can add a shortcut to it in the navigation bar via Twitter Blue's settings.
reading facilitator
Twitter acquired the “Threader” some time ago and turned it off. This service allowed users to compile long Twitter threads into an easier-to-read view — something that already happens with free users, however, the famous "threads” can be a little confusing for those who are not so familiar with the platform.
But Twitter Blue now offers a similar feature on iOS, Android and the web. When clicking on a topic, a new button “Reader” will appear, allowing you to convert it into a page similar to an article or story. This hides the tweet's metadata and focuses on displaying your content exclusively.
undo button
This feature allows users to preview a tweet for a predefined number of seconds before it is finally posted. In this way the tweets can be reviewed to ensure they do not contain any typos before going live. In fact, the feature doesn't actually undo live tweets, it just adds a timer to the post button, that way it's easier for you to confirm if you really want to send that message.
This might sound like something completely pointless as free accounts can theoretically also proofread before publishing? Yes, but still there is a stopwatch giving you that strength at the time of review. Blue users can use it on iOS, Android and the web.
Longer and higher quality videos
Twitter allows free users to post videos with a maximum duration of 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Twitter Blue allows paid users to post videos up to 10 minutes long, and it also exclusively supports video uploads in 1080p resolution. This perk works on all platforms and is part of the experimental features of Twitter Blue Labs, the part of tests that try out new tools for the platform's paid service.
NFT in profile picture
Available for iOS and Android, subscribers can link their crypto wallet and use some NFT they have as their profile picture. To distinguish the nft profile pictures, Twitter adds a frame in a specific shape — hexagonal — for NFTs, making them easier to identify. This perk works on all platforms and is part of the experimental features of Twitter Blue Labs, the part of tests that try out new tools for the platform's paid service.
Improved Spaces
Twitter is working on a revamped Spaces guide that turns Twitter into a kind of podcast player. It includes a curated selection of recorded sessions, as well as a list of Booked Spaces. Twitter Blue subscribers have exclusive access to the renewed tab, while free users access the traditional version of the tool. This perk works on all platforms and is part of the experimental features of Twitter Blue Labs, the part of tests that try out new tools for the platform's paid service.
edit tweets
Finally, a feature that people have been requesting for some time is now part of Twitter Blue. edit tweets allows paying users to edit their tweets up to 5 times within 30 minutes of publishing them permanently. Anyone with access to the edited tweet can view the full edit history to avoid misleading changes.
So far this feature only works on normal tweets posted on the platform's main/official service, so replies, threads and tweets posted on TweetDeck and other third-party services are not editable for now. This perk works on all platforms and is part of the experimental features of Twitter Blue Labs, the part of tests that try out new tools for the platform's paid service.
And you, what did you think of these tools? Would you pay to have access to them when you arrive in Brazil? Tell us in the comments!
See also:
understand what is Twitter Files and the controversies involved.
Pig iron: XDA e TechCrunch.
