Twitter has announced the first expansion of Twitter Blue, it’s paid subscription offering. Users within the US and New Zealand are now able to sign up, adding to the present subscriber base already in Australia and Canada. Twitter also added more elements to the Blue program to better entice more Twitter users to subscribe.
Originally launched back in June, Twitter Blue is the same as most other subscription-based formats in that it offers users additional, often exclusive content and functionality for a price. Think of it as Twitter Premium, giving you more capacity such as undo Tweets and new mobile color themes.
At $2.99 a month, users will now get even more value out of the ‘Blue’ offering. To help bolster sign-up rates, Twitter has launched the expansion side-by-side with a new promo push.
To note, the original (Launch) Twitter Blue offered these new features:
Undo Tweets – Undoes any Tweet and Twee-related action within the last 30 seconds. (Tweet Rewind)
Bookmark Folders – Tweet categorization by assigned topic folders.
Reader Mode – Transforms Tweet Threads into more readable text.
Color Theme – Change the colors of your personal in-app UI.
App Icon – Allows you to select from a range of custom app icons.
Dedicated Support – Has a separate, Blue-only customer support line.
All in all, it’s pretty okay, nothing too premium if you look at it. Most, if not all, of these features are offered for free by other platforms, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have their merits. While undo Tweets does sound handy, which it is, to an extent, it does not equate to ‘edit Tweets’, despite the fact that Twitter adamantly positions it as such. The rest are pretty mundane, even for the most enthusiastic of Twitter users.
Such side-grades make Twitter Blue look very raw at launch, which is now why it’s getting such attention from Twitter. To better make their subscription option more appealing, Twitter is finally building up Blue.
Deal Sweeteners
To start, Twitter is adding ‘ad free articles; on iOS and desktop. As Twitter had also acquired Scroll, this is essentially Scroll on Twitter, providing users with ‘add free’ access to multiple websites through their Blue subscriptions.
Scroll’s ‘Nuzzel’ is also making a comeback, but this time in Tweet form. Similar, in a way, to Stories, Blue Subscribers will now be able to see the most-shared articles within the last 24hrs, highlighting key trends and interests among your Tweet community. All in all, it’s a great way to stay up-to-date on things, as well as take note of content you might have missed.
Last, Twitter is also adding an extra aesthetic option, which will enable users to customize what elements appear at the bottom of their feed navigation bar, as well as ‘Twitter Labs’, which enables subscribers to essentially be beta testers and try out certain features still in-development.
The Wrap
These new additions, while not outlandish, greatly helps Twitter Blue appear to be more enticing, with formerly acclaimed ‘Scroll’ and ‘Nuzzel’ functionality making a grand reappearance, providing a big boost to Blue’s utility, thus somewhat justifying the cost.
AS of now, since the offer has not blown up yet, there’s a lack of baseline data to make reliable inferences and estimates. As Twitter Blue stands, while it may have little bonuses here and there, overall it’s just not as influential or ‘empowering’ as other subscription options. Perhaps with a little more refinement, Twitter Blue can still become a viable source of revenue and maybe even gain relevance on par with Spaces. Hopefully, Twitter doesn’t just let go of the project so we can all see if and how Twitter Blue will spread its wings.
Subscribe to our‘Bottoms Up!’ Newsletter. Get the latest social media news, strategies, updates and trends to take your business to the highest level.
Please note:
This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin.
Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
