I, An Elon Musk Dissenter, Paid For Twitter

As a technology enthusiast, longtime Twitter user and senior writer at Screen Rant, I’ve been critical of Elon Musk since he took Twitter private in November 2022. Musk is grossly unfit to run a social media company as large as Twitter, and to go a step further, is simply a bad leader.

I haven’t shied away from writing this—see here, here, and here—and even pondered leaving my favorite social media platform for good. But as Musk so arrogantly predicted, I paid my first $8 towards Twitter Blue on Feb. 25.

There were a few reasons I finally started paying for Twitter after months of holding out, but the biggest two were the ability to edit tweets and gain a blue “verified” checkmark.

Not being able to edit tweets makes the Twitter user experience worse, especially for a journalist. You never want to outright delete a mistake—that would destroy the transparency that journalists strive for—but you can’t just leave a typo or poorly-phrased tweet as-is.

There was always the option of quote retweeting or replying with a correction, though not every reader will see the correction. By being able to edit tweets, I can make sure my content remains accurate and also provide a record of all my corrections for the sake of transparency.

But I’d be withholding the truth if I underestimated the importance of Twitter’s blue “verified” checkmark in the appeal of a Blue subscription. (I put “verified” in quotations because Twitter still does little to ensure Blue subscribers are who they say they are). As of now, the “verified” checkmark still means something. To me, a student journalist trying to grow his following and prepare to enter the professional workforce, it’s worth $8.

It might not be worth something forever. There’s a certain psychological sense of acknowledgement that comes with seeing tweets by a verified user. For some, that acknowledgement extends to a feeling of trust and respect. At the very least, users can rest assured the verified user is who they say they are.

That value only remains if verified accounts can keep the public’s trust. With Twitter (and now Meta) selling “verified” checkmarks to paying users, the value of a blue check might be diminishing each day. For now, it’s my assessment that users still subconsciously separate verified users from the rest of the pack.

Twitter Still Needs To Fix Blue, And Fast

My subscription isn’t permanent, and there are a few things Musk and Twitter need to fix urgently for me to keep my subscription. Unfortunately for me—and other Twitter Blue subscribers—there’s no reason to believe they’ll be fixed.

Right now, Twitter Blue subscribers are paying for a “verified” checkmark and a promise. Twitter says it plans to reduce advertisements for subscribers and offer the newest features to Blue users first. But subscribers may be destined for the same fate as Tesla owners who paid Musk more than $10,000 for self-driving functionality years ago.

(Hint: He still hasn’t delivered on that promise. The Tesla Roadster, expected to debut in 2020, and the Cybertruck are still yet to be shipped to customers who pre-ordered the vehicles.)

It’s a good practice to be comfortable buying a product or service for what it is now—not what it might become. Musk has an awful track record of delivering on his promises, so I’m not holding out much hope Twitter Blue will become anything more than it is currently.

So yes, I paid for Twitter. I like the social media site, and I think the “verified” checkmark can be worth $8. Editing tweets is nice too.

But Twitter Blue has a long way to go, and I might be cancelling my subscription sooner rather than later.