If the rich and famous don't have – as in they won't pay for – blue check marks on Twitter, a ... [+]
If the rich and famous don't have – as in they won't pay for – blue check marks on Twitter, a question could be asked why would anyone else see it as having any value? That is just the latest conundrum facing the social media platform since Elon Musk announced that legacy accounts would lose their verification unless they subscribed to Twitter Blue.
However, as we've come to see, not everyone actually has to pay to keep their legacy blue check marks on the social media platform.
Last month, Twitter began to return the verification mark to some accounts that had more than a million followers. It has been seen as an effort to add credibility to blue checks, and no doubt was also to make sure current Twitter Blue subscribers continue to see value in what they're actually paying for.
"Elon Musk is giving back blue ticks to those with a million followers and a few elite celebs that he took some months ago," said Dr. James Bailey, professor of leadership at the George Washington University School of Business.
It is now being met with backlash from a number of celebrities who wanted the world to know they're not paying for Twitter Blue. It is just the latest debacle for the social media company since it was acquired by Musk last year for $44 billion.
"A great idea but with terrible execution can't be more true for Twitter's handling of a subscription plan," added Dr. Dustin York, associate professor of communication at Maryville University.
"Musk has diminished the entire value of a blue check mark," warned York, even as those with massive followings had their blue check marks returned.
"What was once a credibility symbol that drove users to engage in trusted content on Twitter has turned into a symbol that represents either a world-renowned thought leader or a scam account – and it's hard to tell which you're looking at," suggested York.
Blue Checks Returned
Removing the blue check marks likely didn't get the response Musk might have expected. It quickly announced that he'd personally pay for a few accounts, notably of those who publicly vowed they'd never pay.
Now it seems some accounts don't have to pay at all to keep the check marks.
"Giving the blue check mark back to those with over one million followers is an obvious push to leverage celebrities' credibility in an attempt to earn back some credibility for Twitter itself – good idea, but poor execution," said York.
However, Bailey had even harsher words for this strategy: "That's stupid."
Giving them back isn't the issue, but it was taking them in the first place, said Bailey simply because it was almost certain to cause unnecessary drama for the service under Musk's leadership.
Twitter has already seen an exodus of users, while its top 30 advertisers also dropped their spending on the service by an average of 42 percent. Musk essentially responded to the loss of ad dollars by trying to get people to pay for features on Twitter.
Bailey noted too that he was among those who had "predicted doom with Musk buying Twitter" because the tech entrepreneur's knowledge of social media is exactly zero.
"He didn't understand the fundamental truth of social media; it's about information and advertising, not fees," said Bailey.
"You see, Elon Musk wants a hard return, like Tesla sales," Bailey continued. "Jeff Bezos understands storing and selling information and has stayed in his lane, making that lane wider all the time. Musk is not just not expanding his lane; he's driving on the wrong side of the road. If his ego wasn't so inflated and fragile, maybe he'd learn his lessons. But don't expect it."
