Twitter’s paid certification has appeared among French Internet users in recent weeks. Time to test the few good features, but above all to be disappointed.
You can do things with 10 euros: buy your lunch, have a movie session but also subscribe to Twitter Blue, the paid certification of Elon Musk’s social network.
Finally subscribe yes, but after some preliminary requisitions. You must not have changed your name or profile picture in the last three days. The famous moment arrives to enter your means of payment. We choose the monthly subscription (you never know what tomorrow will bring with Elon Musk, better not to commit to a year) and by computer, just to avoid the additional costs linked to Elon Musk’s conflicts with Apple and Google.
Official cost of the operation: 8 euros. Unofficial cost number 1: 9.60 euros. Since the VAT is not indicated in the communication. Unofficial cost number 2: 9.98 euros, after the additional bank costs linked to this purchase outside the European Union.
No automatic badge
First surprise after activating the subscription: no blue tick appearing next to the name. We will have to wait in the end… 7 days before seeing the badge appear, yet THE symbol of this certification. The reason: to be verified, you have to be approved by Twitter’s moderation teams, which are not really numerous after the dismissals carried out by Elon Musk.
While waiting for the long-awaited badge, let’s explore the features offered. On the program: NFT profile images, publication of one-hour videos in full HD or even a “Play” functionality allowing a more readable viewing of long threads of tweets. Functions of little use for the vast majority of users of the social network.
A “Popular Articles” tab also lists the press articles relayed several times by the accounts we follow or additional accounts. A function which could have been a good informational tool but which in the end often compiles the same media.
The “Audio” tab is also reinforced with podcasts, on different themes (news, technology, sport, cinema, economy, etc.), but also replays of spaces, Twitter audio conferences. It is also possible to set reminders on upcoming Spaces.
More laborious tweets
But the great revolution brought by Twitter Blue is of course based on the modification of tweets. The subscription indeed offers the possibility of editing one’s tweets up to five times, within thirty minutes of publication. If the idea seduces at first, we quickly realize that it is quite futile and rarely used. The habit of deleting and redoing your tweet can resurface and is ultimately just as fast, but above all much less expensive.
The other addition made by Twitter Blue concerning tweets is based on the possibility of canceling a tweet before it is published. Regretful insults or error in the message: Twitter Blue starts a 30-second timer from the moment the user clicks on the “Tweeter” button. A timer that can be shortened by pressing “Send” again, but which complicates and lengthens the process of sending tweets, especially when you want to exchange quickly.
One of the promises of this paid subscription is also to further highlight the tweets of subscribers in the newsfeeds of other users. A measure that is difficult to quantify and observe as the news feeds are constantly being reworked, in particular with the recent addition of the “For you” tab, constantly updated with tweets that are supposed to appeal to the Internet user.
Aesthetics more than practical
Fans of advanced customization will however be satisfied with Twitter Blue. As on the web interface, it is possible to choose the color of the buttons and hyperlinks among six colors, making the mobile application more pleasant. Another possible customization: that of the application logo on your home screen. But again, this is only a very anecdotal function.
The only really interesting customization remains that of the navigation bar located at the bottom of the application. Twitter has constantly modified it over the months and years, removing and adding shortcuts sometimes deemed useless by users. Twitter Blue thus allows you to choose from 2 to 6 elements (notifications, Explorer, private messages, communities, lists, Spaces, bookmarks, etc.) to display, as well as their order of appearance on the bottom bar (simply by sliding the icons) .
In short, Twitter Blue could have been an interesting tool for a more pleasant and personalized use of the social network. But at 11 euros per month, we hope for more (much more!) than a few colored buttons and other gadgets that are ultimately not very useful and used.
