Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has continued to evolve into the social media giant it is today. From a mere five thousand tweets a day in its first year to five hundred million tweets today, it’s come a very long way.
In the last few years, the platform has done a lot to expand what it offers to its users.
November 2021 saw the launch of Twitter Blue, a subscription service allowing Twitter users access to features to further customize their experience.
In this post, you will find out about some of the great features that Twitter Blue has to offer, its pricing and how you can take advantage of it as an NFT Artist.
Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll learn below:
What is Twitter Blue?
- Twitter Blue is a subscription service that includes “premium features”, including app customization and NFT profile picture integration (more on this later), among other useful features.
- A new revenue stream for the company, the service will cost $2.99/month but is only available in a select number of countries currently.
- Some of the features of Twitter Blue include a Bookmarks Folder, an Undo Tweet function, Reader Mode, Dedicated Twitter Blue Support and additional coloured themes and icons.
- Recently, Twitter Blue Labs introduced the capability to set NFT profile pictures to some users, changing the regular circular profile picture to a hexagonal one including an NFT you hold.
Twitter Blue for NFT Artists
For Crypto and NFT Content Creators, Twitter Blue may be worth your while. Here's why.
- Bookmarking and categorizing articles makes blockchain space research easier
Source: Twitter (@TwitterBlue)
- The ability to set an NFT as your profile picture would attract NFT enthusiasts to your profile. This was initially a feature exclusive to Twitter Blue, however, Twitter has sign rolled out this feature to all users.
- There could be more Blockchain features for Twitter Blue users in the future though.
- As we approach a transition to Web3, these features are likely to expand.
twtData alongside Twitter Blue
twtData offers a range of services, from extracting historic tweet data to follower lists in order to analyse how best to take advantage of an ever changing Twitter landscape. In combination with the features on offer within Twitter Blue, you can smash growing a Twitter following.
Pros and Cons
The Pros of Twitter Blue
- The availability of NFT profile pictures could point to further blockchain integration on Twitter (hint hint)
- The bookmarks feature allows you to categorize your bookmarks into your own organization system and the creation of categories.
- The reader view strips away all the ads that you may usually see in content, whether this be tweets or articles on external sites.
What are the Cons? It can’t all be good
- The service still isn’t available to everyone. Twitter has only made the service available in select countries at the moment
- Unfortunately, if you are looking to undo a mistake more than thirty seconds after its posted, you may have to go through the usual process for regular users. Delete the tweet, rewrite it and post it again.
- Not all features will work on all mobile devices, depending on age and brand, however, Twitter are working on this and there may be an update to rectify these issues in the near future.
Pricing
The service currently costs $2.99 in the US - a reasonable price for the amount of features on offer. However, it may still be worth considering if it is worth spending the money if you only casually use Twitter.
- With the exception of the introduction of the Reader Mode and Bookmarks for those who, perhaps, use Twitter to consume news and other digital content, the service is largely designed for the creators. A demonstration of the Reader Mode can be seen below.
Source: Twitter (@TwitterBlue)
- The ability to undo a tweet within thirty seconds may be useful, however, is unlikely to be worth the $2.99 on its own.
- Other things to consider may be whether you are an avid enough user to warrant paying for an account.
- Finally, a reminder that this could change as Elon Musk comes up with his own ideas for revenue streams, as he takes the helm as Twitter’s new
Conclusion
The introduction of new features to Twitter will bring new opportunities for content creators but Twitter Blue will, no doubt, continue to expand its offering, making it a great tool for content creators in the future.
Twitter Blue is particularly useful for NFT enthusiasts, NFT artists and anybody who produces any content around crypto and blockchain. Nevertheless, it is not just for this subset of Twitter users and contains features that may appeal to anyone who is an avid Twitter user.
FAQ
Is Twitter Blue in the UK?
Unfortunately not. As of time of publishing, Twitter has only launched in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is, however, likely that Twitter will role out the service to more countries in the near future. The fact is that it is still a new service and it is being tested out in an expanding list of countries.
How do I get Twitter Blue?
If you are lucky enough to be in one of the select countries where the service is available, you can access Twitter Blue though an in-app purchase on your phone or tablet (paying for it through Apple Subscriptions in the App Store) or on a computer, you can pay for the service through a card payment, using Stripe Payments, Twitter's payment provider.
What is the point of Twitter Blue?
In short, to offer an expanded premium service to users with features that have been asked for or talked about for a while. Yes, this does still appeal to a specific subset of Twitter users, however, it is up to the individual user to decide if they will get value for money out of the service. At $2.99/month, it is hard not to justify, however, it is not a service that will appeal to everyone.
Is Twitter Blue free?
Twitter Blue isn't free, however, is set at an extremely reasonable $2.99/month, which is more than worth it if you think that you will make use of the features of the premium service. This may look slightly different in your countries currency, however, it is essentially the same price everywhere.