Elon Musk continues to look for ways to make money on Twitter, and yet another one of them is aimed at companies and brands who will be forced to pay for the “golden tick” – a mark that their accounts on the social network recently received.
If the owners of “gold” marks refuse to pay $1000 per month, they will disappear from their profiles. Internal company messages seen by The Information also show that Twitter plans to receive additional funds — $50 per month for each account associated with the brand. Those plans are confirmed by screenshots released by social media consultant Matt Navarro, which show correspondence between Twitter product manager Evan Jones and potential customers.
“As an early access subscriber, you will receive a gold checkmark for your company and affiliation badges for partners. Subscriptions for organizations are $1,000 per month and $50 per additional account with one free month after joining,” the email reads.
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
A second source confirms the same information
Twitter asking for $1000 per month for gold check mark verification pic.twitter.com/A1mXq46wDl
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) February 3, 2023
Course
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
Twitter added gold badges to company profiles before launching a program called “Verification for Organizations.” The service allows brands to add thumbnail icons of their profile photos to employee accounts or any other brand-related accounts (such as the small Twitter logo on Twitter product manager Esther Crawford’s profile).
The social network began accepting applications for early access to the program last month and has not officially announced prices. However, the $1,000 fee is quite realistic given Elon Musk’s desire to increase Twitter’s revenue and pay off the social network’s $12.5 billion debt.
Musk previously made massive layoffs at the company and reportedly put office furniture and equipment up for sale after defaulting on rent at several locations, including Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco. Also, the social network began to charge from $8 to $11 per month from users for the “blue check” and other privileges as part of the Twitter Blue subscription.
Developers who plan to use the Twitter API to create third-party clients, such as Tweetbot and Twitterrific, will also have to pay starting February 9 (previously, the programs suddenly stopped working). The exact cost of the “basic subscription” for developers has not yet been disclosed, but Musk says that the API will be free to use “robots with free, high-quality content.”
Responding to feedback, Twitter will satisfy the light, download only API for purchases that provide good content that is free
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2023
Musk has previously said that the API is being “abused” by scam bots and spammers, and that a subscription of around $100 a month “with identity verification” could improve the situation.
Yeah, free API is being abused badly right now by bot scammers & opinion manipulators. They are not involved in the process or the cost, so it’s easy to screw up a 100k bed to a bad idea.
Just ~$100/month for API access with ID verification will clean things up greatly.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2023
And while some Twitter bots exist purely for fun, there are also some that provide useful features on the site—Pikaso, Remind Me of This Tweet, and Thread Reader help you take screenshots, get reminders, and more. Many developers have announced that they will shut down their bots by February 9.
Source: The Verge 1, 2
