Twitter Blue flopped during its first month. Following its re-release in mid-December, a report from The Information, claims that only 180,000 Americans subscribed to the paid version in the first 30 days that it was available on the market.
This represents just 0.2% of the total percentage of users that use the social network's services, and is a new defeat for Elon Musk, who bet on this service from the beginning. With a price of $8 per month for users who pay through the web, $7 if you pay for the annual subscription and $11 for those who purchase the service through the Apple Store or the Play Store. Putting the costs aside, during its first month, the paid service only managed to get 290,000 users to resolve on giving it a try, 62% coming from the nation.
With this data, the media website claims, Twitter would only be able to earn approximately $27.8 million a year with Twitter Blue, a figure far short of what Musk was aiming for with the service. The tycoon reassured his employees last year that he expected half of the social network's revenue to come directly from subscribers. However, considering that the executive expected to raise $3 billion this year alone, of which at least $1.5 billion would come from Twitter Blue, the service still has a long way to go.
Gold check, for a fee?
Musk is already looking for solutions to increase its funding. One of them, as reported by The Verge, would be to charge companies $1,000 per month for the gold check (the one reserved for companies and media) plus an additional $50 per month for each account affiliated with them. A rumor that seems to confirm what Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, recently stated:
Twitter is reportedly emailing businesses offering gold check mark verification for $1000 PER MONTH!
And affiliate account verification for $50 each per month pic.twitter.com/hohTPKLKdi
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) February 3, 2023
This is not the only measure Musk is reportedly feeling out in an effort to improve the web service. The Information also claims that the tycoon may consider offering a subscription level whereby, at a higher price, users of the social network could browse the site without ads, although none of these options have appeared yet on the Twitter Blue tab.
