Live data from Hacker News

Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

theverge.com

111–120 of 190 posts

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The blue checkmark is in practice just a symbol of vanity. That you're a genuine somebody, worthy of extra verification. Absolutely. But if anyone who pays $20/month can get a blue checkmark, it is no longer the status symbol you describe and its appeal totally disappears.

The verification process doesn't change, you just need to pay for it.

From the article:

>The directive is to change Twitter Blue, the company’s optional, $4.99 a month subscription that unlocks additional features, into a more expensive subscription that also verifies users

Sure sounds like they’re planning on giving blue checks to anyone willing to pay. It wouldn’t make financial sense otherwise; there are currently only around 300k verified users, so this would only generate a maximum of $6M/month in revenue.

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#112
post #76

I think this is smart. The blue checkmark is in practice just a symbol of vanity. That you're a genuine somebody, worthy of extra verification. There are so many self-important people in life and on social media that think they are in a class above everybody else, I bet a large percentage of these not noteworthy but need to be verified people will happily pay for it.

>The blue checkmark is in practice just a symbol of vanity. That you're a genuine somebody, worthy of extra verification. Absolutely. But if anyone who pays $20/month can get a blue checkmark, it is no longer the status symbol you describe and its appeal totally disappears.

There is implicit lying by omission, in your favor, in these kinds of situations. You create value through scarcity but some won't know why the value is there, while others will take a long while to catch-on, giving you plenty of time to capitalize on the running-on-fumes value by lowering the scarcity.

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to see the missive and exactly what it says. Most journalists have to work at speed and are sloppy as hell, as we've already seen several times in this case. I don't doubt that he wants to instill some urgency. Getting a page up with the higher fee and the new requirements will happen faster than whatever the final authentification scheme is.

This author uses passive voice and doesn’t say what their source is. The engineers “were told” that they would be fired if they missed the deadline. Who told them that? Who even were the engineers? How does the author know this?

The verge is notorious for bad reporting that gets worse surrounding anything charged in the immediate zeitgeist... i don't trust their reporting at all, when it comes to musk's twitter takeover.

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#114
post #84
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's to say there isn't just as many, equally capable people looking for a job there? They'll be fine. Most people are going no where and those that leave will be replaced immediately.

Hiring new engineers while the CEO is busy boiling some of its engineers alive is notoriously difficult. Plus, interviewing takes engineering time, since you need existing engineers to conduct those interviews. Engineers who are being asked to "show their work" won't want to take time away to interview their replacements.

>Hiring new engineers while the CEO is busy boiling some of its engineers alive [...]

But that's just your anecdote and has no actual affect on the time necessary to hire new software developers.

And the time it takes to hire has always been there; it isn't anything novel and certainly isn't stopping anybody from applying/hiring.

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#115
post #99
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telegram recently launched a very similar feature to the verified checkmark https://telegram.org/blog/700-million-and-premium

And it depends on existing verified pages (you get verified by.. having two other verified social network accounts). If you can pay to get one of those, that's half of the job done for 20$.

Telegram Premium does not at all depend on your other social profiles, it’s $5/mo. Maybe they have a separate verification feature? (Edit: yep https://telegram.org/verify )

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#116
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever thought for a second that you can’t trust the media? Or trust the word of a disgruntled employee who’s just trying to give a black eye to the employer who is about to let him/her go? It pretty funny watching the posts coming across this and other platforms thinking the world is ending because Elon comes out and says he’s going to make twitter balanced instead blatantly left leaning.

That balance is going great given Elon's recent content on Twitter /s. "Blatantly left leaning" is a joke. My trans friends wouldn't receive constant drive by harassment if that were the case.

Twitter is very left leaning.

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#117
If this story is true (don't take any stories about Twitter at face value without named, verifiable sources), then it's likely it's about more than just verification. It'll be Twitter Prime or some such, and it will come with a host of benefits.

Actually, given what we've seen with Tesla, it will come with a host of promised benefits, which will be delivered over a randomish period of time, but which you will pay for as if they existed all along.

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#118
post #17

Software deadlines of a week or so? Elon really doesn't knows thing about software management. What a tool - have fun attracting some real pieces of work.

This style of management of software/product teams fills me full of confidence on using autopilot.

some people really are just inspired by authoritarian rule

it's the story of our time

Re: Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification

#120
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hiring new engineers while the CEO is busy boiling some of its engineers alive is notoriously difficult. Plus, interviewing takes engineering time, since you need existing engineers to conduct those interviews. Engineers who are being asked to "show their work" won't want to take time away to interview their replacements.

>Hiring new engineers while the CEO is busy boiling some of its engineers alive [...] But that's just your anecdote and has no actual affect on the time necessary to hire new software developers. And the time it takes to hire has always been there; it isn't anything novel and certainly isn't stopping anybody from applying/hiring.

I'm guessing you haven't worked at a big valley tech company. But this may be your chance!
Post reply on HN