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Twitter to Introduce Official Label

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So basically they are converting the old verified to « official » and they are selling a new blue check mark for 8$.

With a lot of talking about power to the people in the meantime.

You gotta admire the innovation here

And now Elon Musk "killed it": https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1590383366213611522

So, they changed the blue check mark to be meaningless, then reinvented it under a new name days later?

Other than the “we’re not making everyone with a check mark official” caveat it seems the same.

The blue checkmark simply verifies that you have 8 fewer dollars in your wallet each month.

I'm starting to suspect that maybe the turnaround plan Twitter's buyer had in mind wasn't too well thought out.

This seems a lot like fully automated factory for Model 3s.

Things are done a particular way for a reason. Elon decided he knows better (without asking anyone for information on why it’s that way) and changes things. It doesn’t work. He quietly puts things back the way they were.

Sometimes there is no good reason they’re done that way. Or the reason is no longer relevant.

But if you don’t try to find out, you can end up here.

Now $8 means you gave up your anonymity and $8 a month to twitter for niche features... and a blue check

She is that weird Twitter lady sleeping on the floor at work. Worth it though, the world is now a better place with this new checkmark, and people can keep pointing to her as an example on LinkedIn. Inspiring! Grind yourself to dust for this billionaire #perseverance #team #grateful #SleepWhereYouWork #StockholmSyndrome.

Performative work is hard work. =)

I'm in awe at the "new" Twitter's ability to create its own problems and then pat itself on the back for solving them; in terms of features and functionality, this is effectively net zero improvement.

Looks like they're making it even more exclusive:

`Not all previously verified accounts will get the “Official” label and the label is not available for purchase. Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures.`

Does anyone have any insight into how this is in line with Musk's recent tweet "Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit."? At first glance it seems to go away from it, but maybe they'll explain it further on launch. Maybe it's because it introduces a "middle class" with the blue checkmark?

They were really leaning into the transparency angle for the blue check so I look forward to learning more how the "official" label will be allocated.

Most of it sounds fine outside of the "some public figures".

What it needs its clear standards and no whiff of Twitter endorsing the account holder.

Government accounts and corporate accounts are pretty straight forward. Business partners seems unavoidable. Some room for debate over "major" media outlets, but honestly it won't hurt to apply it to as small a media outlet as is practical. I would definitely not give it to individual journalists.

The public figures, though, could easily just go back to the same problems if they don't watch it.

Someone mentioned it would be valuable to non profits as well. Given the inclusion of “public figures” is it any different (in writing) than it was before? Which means we seem to be back at the same place of the devil is in the details.

I'm curious how they're doing this on the backend. If the "blue check field" will be changed to the official field or if they'll swap them out. Makes me wonder what happens if they miss some code paths. Could be weird if there is some conflation on the backend.

Seems as though “official” is for things or groups, like your list of companies, govt depts etc. Where as the checkmark is for people. That line gets blurry when people are things, like influencers. Seems like before, the checkmark filled both of those roles and now it’s potentially going to be split.

I believe that the lords and peasants thing is about lack of clarity and consistency in how or who could get a checkmark. As the checkmark was, among other things, a status symbol for cool kids as well as a verification mark. The status symbol existing at least in part because it was ‘bestowed’.

Assuming that last paragraph, it would make sense in a certain way to ‘unload’ the checkmark into component parts and have a system for each.

Could a physical example be like an expo or business woman’s breakfast? Metropolis Business Expo, being a part of it said to be essential to doing business in metropolis, anyone can attend, vip passes given to friends of the organiser for backstage party but also for better stall location. Split stall location pass out of vip pass and sell vip pass for 8$. This impact the lord club that existed before as any peasant with 8$ gets to stink up the balcony cocktail party. Does that fit? Hopefully at least barely.

Musk cannot conceive that anyone, including even peasants, might not be able to waste an extra $8 per month. To him, that amount of money is infinitesimally small, he just can't process it. That, or he's just a liar.

I think its more that he sees Twitter as an investment in his time. Not a bad thought considering he used it to meme Tesla to its current market cap and himself to being the richest person in existence. For most people its just an idle passtime and there's no ROI to justify the $8. Influencers and such will benefit from it though.

I really don't know why can't they just have real verification system like many websites do (such as some crypo exchanges or even banks) where they asks you background check questions and you upload your ID. I would be pretty pissed if I can't get "Official" label when I am using Twitter with my legal name but other celebrities can. This is direct re-installation of "lords and peasants".

Why not simply include ID verification with Twitter Blue? It seems like the obvious thing to do because it adds a big incentive to pay for it if you were verified before. They've got 420,000 accounts already verified - that's $40m/year in revenue that's sitting there.

Presumably, the verification process would involve a cost that Musk would rather not incur. The incentive to pay for it is still there — it creates a veneer of authenticity, even if there's no substance behind it.

that's only like 4% of the interest on the money he borrowed/leveraged to buy twitter.

The year is 2023, the entire of Twitter is now just the full gamut of various tick marks.

it was 2024, the great twitter wars were over, only two figures remained; one dottard who walked around in the wasteland, repeatedly saying to himself "Truth Social is gonna be yuge..." and another forlorn individual who drew stick figure diagrams of what appeared to be people on the Red Planet, Mars, in the coarse sooty sand; surrounding that were seemingly endless sheets of paper with 44,000,000,000 repeating over and over, sometimes slanted, sometime upright, sometimes barely legible scribbles, but always the same number...

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