The $8 (£7) monthly fee for a Twitter blue tick and other bonus features will see the social media platform lose its “magic,” a former executive has said.
Currently, all users around the world have the same voices on the platform, former global communications chief Brandon Borrman told BBC News.
But selling verification and higher visibility would “stratify” Twitter.
And he was “curious and concerned” about what the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, could do to boost revenue.
“If asking for the blue tick was the fairest way, Twitter probably would have done it a while ago,” Borrman told BBC News.
And he questioned how Twitter could justify paying people to stay on a “level playing field” with other users.
In addition to the blue Verified badge, those who pay could spread their tweets more widely and see fewer ads, Mr Musk has suggested.
“It’s great for people who have money and want to spend money on amplifying their voice,” said Brandon Borrman. “$8 might seem like nothing to a lot of people – but it’s pretty substantial to most people around the world.”
Mr Musk tweeted about his plan: “We’ve got to pay the bills somehow.”
Considered to be influential, Twitter is the place where celebrities, politicians and world leaders share their views – and ordinary individuals can respond directly to them.
But the company hasn’t made a profit for several years, while its core user base has remained fairly flat at around 300 million per month.
And Mr Borrman acknowledged that it had to change in order to grow.
His core problem was that many of those who tried didn’t stay, he said.
“You have to convince them that they’re getting something they don’t already have by seeing tweets embedded in newspapers and TV coverage around the world.”
Some Twitter users have threatened to delete their accounts in protest at the new leadership.
However, Mr Borrman said there was no credible alternative, although smaller rival Mastadon claimed to have registered thousands of new accounts since Mr Musk’s purchase was completed.
“They’re just not consumer or user friendly,” he said.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey is working on a social network concept called Bluesky – but little is known about when that might launch or what it might look like.
Mr. Dorsey has also retained his stake in Twitter – valued at about $1bn.
Mr Borrman, who left Twitter in June 2021 after three and a half years and now works at non-profit web organization Mozilla, said he was delighted to have left before Mr Musk arrived on the scene.
He is still in touch with friends and colleagues at the company and said the atmosphere at headquarters is now “tense”.
“Elon obviously has a particular way of managing and doing things that is quite different from how Twitter has been managed in the past,” he said.
“There are a lot of people who are in wait-and-see mode.”
According to unconfirmed reports, Mr Musk is considering laying off thousands of employees.
Twitter is one of many companies that are “probably bigger than they need to be right now” thanks to a Silicon Valley mentality of attracting and retaining tech talent, Mr. Borrman said.
“Tech moves in cycles radically different from oil and gas, automotive and other forms of manufacturing, so having that workforce on hand can be very beneficial to you and accelerate your growth,” he said.
“Twitter was in a pretty good position for 2022.
“I was really excited to see what this team would do in the future.
“It’s disappointing that they haven’t been able to execute what I think is a pretty solid strategy.”
Add Comment