Twitter intends to impose a $1,000 monthly verification fee on organizations, but will exempt its 500 biggest advertisers and the 10,000 most-followed organizations with prior verification, according to an internal document acquired by The New York Times.
All accounts purchasing verification would undergo a review to ensure they were not engaging in impersonation, the document also indicated.
Why we care. Musk’s plans to charge organizations for verification could potentially impact their social media marketing strategy. A verification badge would typically be a valuable tool for businesses as it helps to establish their legitimacy and credibility on the platform. It indicates that their account is authentic, and helps to build trust with their audience.
If Twitter is now charging for verification, it may make it more difficult for smaller or emerging businesses to obtain the badge, which could affect their ability to attract and retain followers.
Additionally, the fact that Twitter is making exceptions for its top advertisers may create an uneven playing field, with larger organizations having an advantage over smaller ones.
Verified Organizations. Here’s how Twitter described the $1,000 per month program in a March 30 tweet:
Twitter’s top 10 advertisers spend down 89%. Twitter was hit by a “massive decline in advertising,” Musk said earlier this month, according to Reuters.
Part of that decline has been due to Twitter’s top 10 advertisers spending 89% less over the past two months ($7.6 million) than they did from September to October of last year ($71 million), according to Pathmatics data, via Bloomberg.
The Twitstorm timeline. Announcements from Twitter have been relatively quiet as of late. But here are some of the biggest changes (and reversal of said changes) since Musk took over:
- CoTweets are being sunsetted.
- In a beta available to all advertisers, Twitter launched a new Search Keyword Ads campaign objective.
- Roll-Out Plan for Alternative Feeds, Updated Bookmarks UI and Long-Form Tweets is announced
- Advanced Search filters could soon be coming for mobile.
- Have an idea for a new Twitter account, but the username is taken? You may still be able to get it.
- Musk announces that Twitter is rolling out View Count, so you can see how many times your video is seen. Once we have official confirmation and more info, we’ll let you know.
- Musk creates a poll asking users If he should step aside as CEO. Final results: 57.5% say yes; 42.5% say no.
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