Twitter Blue is the latest company to join the big money-making subscription game. On June 3, the social media behemoth debuted Blue in a few select countries, including Australia and Canada.
On November 9, Twitter launched Blue membership in its native country of the United States and New Zealand, after a five-month wait. Twitter Blue was only available on iOS devices when it first launched. The service was, however, available on Android handsets as of Tuesday.
According to a press statement issued by Sara Beykpour, Senior Director of Product Management, and Smita Gupta, Staff Product Manager, “This subscription offering is simply meant to add enhanced and complementary features to the already existing Twitter experience for those who want it.”
As previously stated, the Twitter Blue subscription would provide certain unique features in addition to the standard Twitter platform. These characteristics include:
Bookmark Folder
This new feature will organise the stuff that the user has saved into categories and colour labels that the user can customise.
Reader Mode
Twitter has finally paid attention to its users’ attention spans and thread readability. The ‘Reading Mode’ will make it simple to read and grasp the text. Twitter will automatically sew a thread’s tweets together and reformat them to improve readability.
Top Articles
Users will be able to quickly see the most popular articles in their feed. Within 24 hours, this section will select the most popular items posted in a user’s network.
Custom Navigation Panel
Subscribers to Twitter Blue will also be able to customise the icon list on the navigation panel at the bottom of the app. Users can choose from five additional navigation options, with the exception of ‘Home,’ which is restricted.
The options include:
- Top Articles
- Spaces
- Communities
- Notifications
- Messages
- Bookmarks
- Profile
- Twitter Blue
A customisable app logo on the home screen, as well as colourful themes, are available as additional personalization possibilities.
Ad-Free News Reading
The social media behemoth has teamed up with news organisations and publications to provide an ad-free news experience for these websites; which can be viewed through Twitter. The following publications are now available:
- The Washington Post
- L.A. Times
- USA TODAY
- The Atlantic
- Reuters
- The Daily Beast
- Rolling Stone
- BuzzFeed
- Insider
- The Hollywood Reporter
According to Twitter’s press release,
“In continuing our commitment to strengthen and support publishers and a free press, a portion of the revenue from Twitter Blue subscription fees goes directly to publishers within our network.”
They added that their goal is to help every publishing partner make 50% more than they would have before.
Tweets Can Be Deleted (Kind of)
The most significant aspect of Twitter Blue is that it may eventually allow subscribers to ‘undo’ Tweets. This, however, comes with a stipulation. Only 30 seconds after posting, the tweets can be erased. Longer video uploads and pinned chats are among the other features.
For a monthly price of $3.49 CAD in Canada or $4.49 AUD in Australia, the service is accessible. Meanwhile, Twitter Blue costs $2.99 per month in the United States and $4.49 a month in New Zealand.
Twitter users, as expected, used memes to criticise the paid subscription and target Twitter. While some praised the platform for offering the additional capabilities, others criticised it. In a press statement, Twitter also stated that it is planning on providing even more exclusive features in the future.
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