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The social media blue tick signifies status and approval. It’s a symbol of authority and prestige for many. Nonetheless, the blue check marks some as outcasts or pariahs.
Some say the blue tick is essential for validating identities and combating fraud, while others say it’s an elite emblem of social order. The blue tick vs. scarlet letter conflict on social media has never been more important.
Social media verification and its effects on online identity and reputation are fascinating. From the merits and cons of the blue tick to the psychological impacts of labeling, we’ll explore the complicated problems surrounding this controversial topic and reveal the truth about digital verification.
The Mystery of the Twitter Blue Check
Elon Musk threatened to remove the blue checkmarks from the profiles of celebrities, athletes, business leaders, authors, and journalists who did not pay a monthly subscription fee to Twitter. Musk planned to force the advertising-reliant platform he bought for $44 billion last year into a pay-to-play model, which he knew would enrage some of the company’s detractors and fellow elites.
Saturday came and went, but the blue checks are still there, often with a disclaimer that they may or may not have been paid for and that nobody but Twitter knows. The Associated Press sought clarification from the corporation on Monday but received no response.
The Blue Tick Dilemma: Is Verification Worth the Price?
In his 15 years on Twitter, Matt Darling has never given a blue check any consideration. However, he has admitted to getting a little thrill anytime an account with “some real-world relevance” started following him.
Blue checks are treated like the nobility in Twitter jokes, but no one (apart from Musk) truly believes this to be true. Says, Darling
Darling paid $11 for a trial of Twitter Blue last month and is now the proud owner of a blue check. Nevertheless, Musk removed the blue tick from his profile after realizing it had become more of a “scarlet letter” than a sign of credibility.
βNow itβs a signal of, youβre a person whoβs not making good tweets, so you have to pay for engagement,β said Darling, an economist at the center-right Niskanen Center.
Musk has stated that as of April 15th, only verified accounts would be displayed in the Twitter For You feed. Darling has decided to cancel his subscription because technical difficulties have plagued it, and he does not need further internet prominence.
βI donβt want Twitter to be pay-for-play. I want it to be a place where people writing interesting tweets get the engagement,β he said.
Hybrid model
Instead of taking away the blue checkmarks, Twitter on Sunday began appending a new message to profiles: βThis account is verified because itβs subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.β
The blue checks still appear for famous users like the singer Dionne Warwick. But so do the millions of people who shell out between $8 and $11 monthly for a Twitter Blue subscription, and there’s no telling who has which service. Warwick has stated categorically that she will not be purchasing a blue check since the funds would be better spent on “my extra hot lattes.”
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William Shatner, who plays Spock in the Star Trek franchise, hesitated to subscribe but then tweeted to Elon Musk, βI can live with this. This is a good compromiseβ This is a reasonable middle ground. Yet, it is unclear whether this is a short-term or long-term fix.
Over the weekend, Twitter deactivated the verification for at least one account: the New York Times’ primary account. The account, which has 55 million followers, used to be verified and carry a gold checkmark.
Over the weekend, however, a user reminded Musk that the newspaper had publicly said it would not be paying a monthly fee for checkmark status, prompting Musk to rescind his decision to give the publication a checkmark and criticize the quality of its reporting.
