Twitter Blue rolls out globally, but the subscription service is still missing promised features like prioritized ranking in conversations and half as many ads
The Verge
Context & Ripple Effects
Twitter Blue’s path moved from an anticipated in-app subscription listing to a U.S. product that bundled ad-free articles and other subscriber tools. Twitter also wound down Scroll to fold its ad-free offering into Blue, making the service a vehicle for consolidating subscription benefits rather than a standalone add-on.
The global rollout broadens that strategy, but the gap between the package’s advertised and delivered benefits matters because the missing features are central to its recurring value proposition. A prior commitment to cut subscribers’ ad load set a clear expectation for the service.
First-order effects
Subscribers in newly supported markets can buy Twitter Blue, but do not yet receive the promised conversation-ranking boost or reduced ad load.
Twitter must sell and support a global subscription whose immediate feature set is narrower than the benefits it has promoted.
Second-order effects
The absent ad reduction weakens Blue’s differentiation from the free product and makes price-sensitive users more likely to judge the subscription on currently available perks rather than future promises.
Because Twitter previously integrated Scroll’s ad-free product into Blue, delayed ad-related benefits can also dilute the value of that subscription consolidation.
Third-order effects
If major platform subscriptions increasingly gate distribution advantages and ad experience, paid tiers can become a more consequential layer of access within social networks—not merely a bundle of convenience features.
Whether that model endures depends on reliable delivery: recurring subscriptions require platforms to turn announced entitlements into consistently observable user benefits.
The trend: Twitter Blue is one data point in social platforms’ shift toward monetizing access, visibility, and reduced advertising through recurring subscriptions.
Wait, you are trying to say Musk promised something and did not follow through on it? He said he will show half the ads and the ads have not halved? :: shocked face:: https://www.theverge.com/...
Twitter Blue is now available globally! Sign up today to get your blue checkmark, prioritized ranking in conversations, half ads, long Tweets, Bookmark Folders, custom navigation, Edit Tweet, Undo Tweet, and more. Sign up here: https://twitter.com/...
Pre-Musk: Here's a check bc you are important. When he takes over: Why do you think you're important?! Everyone deserves this positive signifier!!! Now: The signifier is now negative and we want to accommodate that. https://twitter.com/...
The amount of money and power and technology and control in Elon's hands alone is unprecedented in human history and the majority of Americans are sleeping on the possible consequences inherent to that consolidation of unchecked authority over so much capacity to impact the world…
My reach (impressions/tweet views) went down hugely, immediately after my blue check appeared - from tens of thousands per tweet to single digit thousands. I'm not thrilled. https://twitter.com/...