”G.S. 3: Science & Technology”
Why in the News?
Twitter recently launched its Blue subscription product for users in the U.S. and New Zealand. This new service is designed to drive engagement among creators and users.
Background
Twitter has been looking to find new sources of revenue and for that reason, in June, the company announced Twitter Blue, its only subscription-based service that plans to charge users a small fee in exchange for extra features.
Why this Launch?
- Twitter Blue is designed for power users who are willing to pay a monthly fee for exclusive features.
- Twitter Blue comes as a serious player in the realm of paid subscription-based services — a move that has been propelled by a number of recent investments.
- Twitter Blue is a service inside the main Twitter app that users will have to pay extra for so that they can access premium features like ‘Undo Tweet’, which will let users redact a tweet shortly after it has been posted, ‘Bookmark Folder’, using which people will be able to organise their bookmarked tweets in folders, and ‘Reader Mode’ that will let them read long threads in an easier manner.
What are some of the new features?
- Ad-free experience on Newsletters.
- Subscribers will now easily view the most-shared articles in their network over the last 24 hours, so they can immediately see what’s important in their community. This gives subscribers a new and complementary way of catching up on the latest on Twitter.
- Subscribers will be able to upload videos of up to 10-minutes (as opposed to the standard 2 minutes for non-subscribers) via longer video uploads and pin their favourite conversations to the top of their DM’s with Pinned Conversations.
- Users can add more flair to their Twitter experience with exclusive app icons and colourful themes and Bookmark Folders.
- The company has also introduced Custom Navigation, which gives subscribers the ability to customise what appears in their navigation bar for quick access to the Twitter destinations they care about most.
- Subscribers will also have access to Reader, which turns long threads into an easier-to-read experience.
- They can also change the text size within Reader to tailor their experience even further.
- Finally, subscribers will also get early access to the new features — before anyone else.
What is Undo Tweets feature?
- The most awaited feature is Undo Tweet, where subscribers can preview Tweets before they are sent. Subscribers will have a time limit of 60 seconds to preview and make changes to a tweet before it’s made public. The ability to undo tweets before posting may help users avoid unwanted typos or other errors in their posts. Interestingly.
What are the company’s plans for India?
- Twitter Blue, which will cost $2.99 (roughly Rs 222) per month in the US, across iOS, Android and web. It is, however, unclear when the Twitter Blue service will be made available in India.