If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed that Twitter’s badge system is pretty much useless now, since in the majority of cases it’ll just be used to let other people know about your Twitter Blue subscription. This new formula was launched earlier this month, offering Twitter users the option to pay $8 a month for some additional features. Predictably, trolls took advantage of this change and used the newly paid blue ticks to impersonate big corporations.
The company’s new owner, Elon Musk, apparently tried to remedy this problem by requiring accounts to include the word “parody” where appropriate, then soon after clarified that the word “parody” should be placed directly in the display name. That didn’t stop trolls from completely ignoring the rule, and soon accounts were impersonating Nintendo and other big companies. The most famous of these troll accounts is the one that pretends to be pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and announces on Twitter that insulin will be free. The company’s stock fell and it subsequently removed all of its advertisements from Twitter.
Currently, there is only one Twitter badge, which is blue in color with a check mark in the center, which previously meant that the account it was attached to was authentic.
Under the new Twitter Blue subscription, the verified badge may still mean this on older accounts, but for everyone else it will just mean they pay $8 a month. That’s not very useful when it comes to communicating anything to viewers, so Twitter might roll out additional badges, according to Platformer.
In a blog post, Casey Newton claims to have gleaned some details about Twitter’s alleged plans from a seating chart. According to the document, there are said to be 5 teams within Twitter working on their own projects, one of which is the $8 per month Blue subscription. Apart from this, there would be a Blue for Business verification option in preparationthe encrypted DMs of which we we heard about a few days ago a tip function and the long notes which Musk has already talked about.
Disrupted plans
The Blue for Business plan is particularly interesting, as it was detailed in additional documents obtained by Platformer. Brands will have the option to purchase another type of verification badge for their employeeswhich will make it clear which company these accounts are affiliated with and distinguish them from other accounts.
Tweets from these users will be able to include additional badges next to their name so that their status is immediately noticeable. Mockups of the new badges would include those of Verizon and The New York Times, but recent resignations could disrupt these plans.
Twitter verification badges for brands may be launching soon, leak says