The Blue Checkmark

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I've never paid attention to it, looked for it, required to see it before I weight the opinion being shared etc so forgive me but I feel like I'm missing something, what's the importance of the blue checkmark on twitter profiles and is it a real value or a perceived one?

- For Twitter it's huge, it says "Hey, this is the real so and so and they use Twitter!". I get it.
- For governance, equally huge. If you represent others as a politician it should be required, it's typically a shared access official account.
- For companies it's the official brand account for news, press releases etc. A link on the official channel is typically trustworthy. Straight forward.
- For people? Seems kind of frivolous, perhaps more a status symbol than anything? I don't get it for people.

Every person who has ever pointed out that they are special because of a blue checkmark, or that someone else doesn't have one so they don't matter, instantly came across as not worth listening to their opinions, to me anyway. Other than that I've never looked for a blue checkmark.

Blue Check Anger
News of a possible price increase came out. Nobody likes a price increase but the reactions puzzle me even more.

example: Many people are saying it's absurd to pay $20, that they should be paid instead, and that they'll quit Twitter if it happens... often all in the same tweet.

Unwrap that
- absurd to pay $20, sure
- User should be paid instead, a little self important perhaps
- Quitting twitter if forced to pay $20 for the checkmark, so they need it or Twitter isn't worth using at all? Can't join the commoners? It doesn't change being able to converse with supporters.

Sincerely, there is something about the blue checkmark for individuals that I just don't grasp. It feels silly to me but oh so important to the people raging right now. It's not required on their email addresses or other means of communication but on Twitter it's somehow critical? Every Twitter account url is unique just like with other means of communicating. What am I missing?

[engine]

Musk has now said it'll be $8 per month, down from the original suggestion of $20 per month.

Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is #*$!.

Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.

You will also get:
- Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam
- Ability to post long video & audio
- Half as many ads

[twitter.com...]

[londrum]

You can already tell a lot of people are genuine without the blue tick mark anyway -- look at President Biden's account, for example, it has a little flag and 'United States government official' underneath his name. Musk could roll that out to actors and singers and journalists or whatever.

What twitter needs more than anything is a separate word filter, maintained by twitter across all the different languages, including all the variations that substitute 0 for o, etc, that users could choose to turn on or off for the comments.
That would wipe out a lot of the abuse overnight.

They only give us 200 mute words and we really need those to block all the topics we're not interested in reading.

[lucy24]

$8 per month, down from the original suggestion of $20

M### backpedals frantically after a Big Name Tweeter--was it Stephen King?--said Oh hell no.

It's not unheard-of for a business to start charging for something that was previously free. (Remember when you could ask the phone company for a choice of available numbers, and pick the one you liked? We won't even talk about airlines.) But it doesn't seem awfully well-advised to do it concurrently with other visible changes, when users aren't in a position to know whether they want to maintain their current relationship with the service.

[engine]

I still stand by the argument that paying for a checkmark is likely to devalue it, especially as spammers could start using it. Importantly, the original point of the checkmark was to avoid the problems when a scammer made their profile look like someone else.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I know some of you think I'm defending the guy or on the other side of the proverbial isle but I'm not, I'm with you guys and gals when it comes to what I think is good for the world, my kids etc. We want the same, health, hapiness, less conflict etc. Here's what I think of the fees...

I think there should be a minimum fee of $40 per month, charged to Twitter, for puting their little blue bird on our websites, and paid to us.

As for the blue checkmark fee, be it $5, $8 or $20... what does that tell the world?

- money makes you special, gives you a badge?
- your opinion isn't as important unless you pay?
- that Elon accepts money for improved social standing?
- etc, you get the idea, sharing opinions or news isn't a game but it's made pay to play with fees in a sense.

M### backpedals frantically after a Big Name Tweeter--was it Stephen King?--said Oh hell no.

Very doubtful, Lucy. It's more likely he wanted to charge $5-$8 but knew there would be backlash so he opened at $20 to get it out of the way. Now it's a bargain at just $8 right? He's got business acumen. It's how you sell $50,000 paintings, by placing them next to $100,000 paintings.

It could be 99 cents and I'd never subscribe. To me It's not worth putting my financial information in a Twitter database. THAT data is probably worth more to Twitter as data collection is big business.

His behavior suggests that what you buy isn't what you will get, either. On day 3 he's angering a specific outspoken type of user on the platform, presumably to attract another type of user? He wears a costume to halloween with a Basphomet over an inverted cross, what does that say? Look at me! or... ?

Back to my first line in this post, my kids. He just hired hired his safetyand integrity exec. If you look into that person's Tweeting history you find they have called various people a nazi, compared a journalist to Goebells and said people who live in "flyover" states are racists. They were part of the problem, now they moderate everyone else? I'd prefer they'd have shown they could moderate themselves, first.

Twitter is going to make more money doing what it does, probably, but bringing people together isn't likely one of those things with any change made so far. I had high hopes, I still do, but I need to see it happen. Promises are cheap. So far all I see is a new brand of snark, but it's still snark, drawing eyes to Twitter and keeping it relevant.

Didn't we just watch a certain Mr AngryTweets master keeping people reading their every word on Twitter? Elon's still that guy right now. I probably shouldn't post this, whatever. Every article is free publicity, he's one of the best I've seen at generating it, but it won't fix Twitter.

TL:DR - nothing's changed for the better, yet. Staff decisions aside, the blue checkmark is the first thing he is changing that users will notice on the platform itself and it was about money, for him, when people are struggling hard under inflation effects. History shows that uniting people by turning their anger away from each other and onto the platform itself ends badly.

Advertisers don't shy from people hating each other, they can pick sides, but when everyone hates the platform the advertisers eventually walk. The blue checkmark... if he's got some genius working by focusing on it first I'm not seeing it.

[tangor]

Spammers and bots are all about taking the easy road to scam folks. If they have to pay US$8.00 just to play, a lot of them will pass. Easy filter to remove the trash, and if they spam/scam are deleted. Either way, one and one.

Folks who are legit might grumble, but pay to play at the highest level and fewer ads, once again cleaning out the trash.

Those who don't pay the $8.00 are just there. Valid to a point, but not CERTIFIED. Makes a difference. That also filters out the trash.

Then again, as a private company (like all our websites that are NOT publicly traded) the "webmaster" or "Chief Twit" can do whatever they want.

$20.00 got everyone's attention.

$8.00 as the final makes it look like a win for the complainers. Easier to swallow.

T remains the voice for journalists, activists, and other -ists, and if they want to play with the biggest megaphone they will pay the $8.00 and T will be a bit more solvent moving forward.

Observations.

[Marshall]

Does Musk have a check mark and, if so, will he be exempt from the fee? I suspect he is a little cash strapped at the moment.

[topr8]

>>I still stand by the argument that paying for a checkmark is likely to devalue it, especially as spammers could start using it.

i thought it would be that you can still only get a blue check mark if you could have got one before anyway ... except you now have to pay.

i think it's a good idea. everyone expects everything for free ... and it never is, someone, somewhere has to pay.

how about the $$$ the likes of trustpilot charge or belonging to a trade association and other such like costs - all are to give legitamacy to a business or person, where's the outcry about those fees (which can be substantial).

slightly off topic ... i also think spoof accounts should have to be very clearly labelled as such.

[topr8]

>>Remember when you could ask the phone company for a choice of available numbers

ah thanks for the trip down memory lane, Lucy! i remember choosing my cell phone number around 35 years ago ...and still have it today (it's a good number)

... people don't believe me today when i say i got to choose it myself!

[actually it's changed slightly, a leading 7 was added to it some years ago, just like all the other cell numbers in the uk at the time]

[engine]

As I predicted, the scammers have taken advantage of the blue check mark. Worse still for twitter, it also seems the company being scammed has paused its advertising from twitter.

By Friday morning, Eli Lilly executives had ordered a halt to all Twitter ad campaigns — a potentially serious blow, given that the $330 billion company controls the kind of massive advertising budget that Musk says the company needs to avoid bankruptcy. They also paused their Twitter publishing plan for all corporate accounts around the world.

[washingtonpost.com...]

[lucy24]

The world has been overdue for a good laugh, and some of those spoofs were brilliant. (And is it true it took FIVE HOURS to figure out how to shut down one of the Not Necessarily Elon Musk accounts?)

[tangor]

I suspect some internal feet dragging is at work ... but also suspect that the value of the "blue mark" has been eradicated forever. Some other verification process will be required, and I suspect it will not be joyfully accepted by the rank and file, on either side of whatever divide is out there.

[engine]

He's finally learning to consider options on this before pushing things out there without due consideration.

Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid

[twitter.com...]

[engine]

More news on this is that accounts less than 90-days old won't be able to show a Blue verification badge.

This means that you won’t be able to just create a new account and instantly get it verified, which could be a bid to cut down on scams and impersonator accounts like the ones that almost immediately plagued the service the first time the updated Blue launched.

[theverge.com...]

[tangor]

That will go a long way to slowing down the race to blue check by scammers and other bad actors.

[engine]

More info on the Blue Check Mark

Musk said last week that his $8 per month Blue subscription would be made available again on November 29th. But in the meeting with employees, he said the timing of the launch was unclear: “We might launch it next week. We might not. But we’re not going to launch until there’s high confidence in protecting against those significant impersonations.”

During the meeting today with Twitter employees, Musk said the company will “probably” need to give “institutions and companies” a “different color check” but didn’t elaborate, noting that “this is still something we’re thinking through.”

[theverge.com...]

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Elon made it cool to punk Twitter with self-deprecating "shennanigans" for a laugh the same way the previous staff made it cool to repeat the approved narratives out of fear of being cancelled. Things aren't better now, and they weren't better then, just different. Neither are ideal for advancing society, but it's just a messaging app, a reflection of us.

Anyway - When he says things like "this is still something we’re thinking through.", to me, it's saying he paid billions without a plan. He's winging it.

As a layer of "You will feel my wrath for disrespecting my disrespect of you" is waning a new layer of "how can this place be taken seriously" is being ushered in on Twitter. Who knows what that will turn into later, it's pointless to fear it prematurely.

Maybe it's what the world needs, at this point who knows. I'll tell you when we get there if the trip was helpful or not. People should feel free and big gov/tech should be uncomfortable, not vice versa, and we have that right now, at least.

It's time to stop with the free publicity, IMO. That much is clear. Shennanigans get boring without the publicity.

edit: Twitter stock prices today... oh yeah, it's a private company and he's playing with his money now, not ours.

also, this is free publicity, CBS did an about face within 48 hours when nobody else shared in their "fear" enough to follow them. When people feel free you have to lead them, scaring them stops working, imo and CBS found out they didn't lead many - [nbcnews.com...]

[tangor]

CBS came back to t less than 48 hours later. So much for the uncertainty.

[lucy24]

I was recently reminded of the old caution against getting high on your own supply.

[mcneely]

Blue checks have become such a pain over the years, that I won't even retweet them.
I don't actively search for them and I don't follow them.

You could reestablish the blue check good reputation by not allowing politicians or news reporters to have one.
Take the blue check away from those who have 500K followers and only follow back 12 too.

We could save the blue check for things like the weatherman or the historical society or the highway patrol or something along those lines.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Or you could stop displaying checkmarks entirely and ask that people not take Twitter as official news, medical advice, financial advice etc. Twitter, and all social media, is a poor substitute for an actual doctor, and actual politician, and actual financial expert and so on.

[engine]

Remove the blue check mark entirely as it's elitist.
Someone that has one can spout just as much nonsense as someone that doesn't.
I suspect it'll be back as Musk sees it as a revenue stream.

However, I agree that parody accounts should be clearly stated. No, that's not elitist, it's helping to avoid confusion, which is rife on social media.

People believe the last thing they read!

[tangor]

"If it is on the web it must be true!"

Yeah, right!

:)

[engine]

It seems there's more to the "Verified" status, and it may be relaunched Friday 2 December. There will also be various options. Blue, Grey, and Gold, as noted below. According to Elon Musk it will be authenticated manually at the start: That should be interesting.

we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week.

Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates.

Painful, but necessary.

[twitter.com...]