Elon Musk wants to transform Twitter in a completely different tool. To improve the economic results of the social network, the businessman is trying to convince Internet users to pay for the Twitter Blue ‘app’ subscription service, which at the time he expected would represent half of the application’s income. However, for the moment the option is turning out to be a failure.
According to data from the specialized media ‘The Information‘, so far, only 290,000 users have a subscription to the service globally, that is, barely 0.2% of monthly active Internet users that Twitter has. Most of them, 180,000, reside in the United States.
According to these figures, Twitter will raise over a year thanks to Blue just under 30 million dollars. Insignificant figure and that is quite far from covering the losses that the advertising business of the ‘app’ is suffering from the moment Elon Musk took the reins. And what is important.
Thanks to Twitter Blue, the user can access exclusive tools of the social network. Among them is the coveted verification sign, the same one that until a few months ago was only available to the accounts of influential users, companies and public institutions. Currently, anyone willing to pay 8 euros through the web version of Twitter, or 11 if the subscription is made through the application for iPhone or Android, can show it off on their profile.
Despite the poor results achieved by the service, it should be remembered that until just a few days ago it was only available in a few countries. Last Friday it announced his arrival in Spain, where it begins to be available with a new annual subscription option in exchange for 84 euros. It is also promised that posts from paid accounts will, in the future, be more visible than those from ordinary Internet users.
Recently, we have also learned that the application is working to start charging $1,000 per month to companies that have a verified account within it. It will be necessary to see what is the acceptance that the policy has on the part of the companies.
Be that as it may, Elon Musk has not put all his eggs in the subscription basket. Over the past few weeks, Twitter has made changes to its advertising policy with the goal of allowing political ads, which were previously prohibited. Likewise, the company is working to become a ‘super app’, in the style of Wechat in China. Among the tools that it could add in the future is the sending of money between users in the PayPal style.
