Elon Musk is making steps toward limiting twitter polls to those who pay for the blue tick verified badge. That move comes a day after users voted mostly in favor of a poll he put up asking whether he should step down as Twitter CEO.
Elon Musk announced that starting April 15, only verified Twitter accounts would be allowed to participate in polls. This strategic move aims to counteract the influence of advanced AI bot swarms, according to the CEO of the social media company. [Source: Reuters (@Reuters) – March 28, 2023]
This is the latest policy change that has generated a lot of anger among users, largely because it limits their ability to express themselves in a more meaningful way on the platform. The Twitter Blue program hasn’t had much of an impact on revenue yet, and it doesn’t seem to have a big effect on user social capital.
Restricting polls to those who pay for the blue
Elon Musk revealed that exclusive voting privileges in polls will be reserved for Twitter Blue subscribers. The change comes as the SpaceX and Tesla billionaire pushes to revamp Twitter, which has been losing users in droves.
In a Monday tweet, Musk said he would restrict future polls on policy decisions at Twitter to paying Twitter Blue subscribers. He was responding to a user who suggested that only those who pay for the platform should be allowed to vote, adding: “Good point,” and then saying Twitter will make that change.
Earlier this year, Twitter relaunched its Twitter Blue subscription service. This is a paid program that includes a “verified” checkmark, and other perks like fewer ads. It costs $8 a month, and it’s available for individuals, business, and government accounts.
As part of the changes, Twitter will remove a formerly-recommended ‘legacy’ blue checkmark from accounts that don’t have a Twitter Blue subscription. This means that accounts without Twitter Blue won’t be recommended in the “For You” feed, a feature which mixes tweets from accounts and topics you follow with those of others.
Another change is that only accounts that are verified will be able to see the content of other users in the “For You” feed. This is because the social media company believes that advanced AI bot swarms are causing a lot of spam.
The changes come as Twitter relaunches its For You timeline, which displays popular tweets from accounts you don’t follow. This is in addition to a new “following” tab that allows users to view tweets from accounts they do follow.
According to a Twitter blog post, the changes are being made to address the problem of “bots spoofing Twitter.” This is why accounts that don’t have a Twitter blue checkmark won’t be recommended in the For You feed.
The CEO of Twitter also tweeted that only verified accounts will be eligible to be included in the For You recommendations, a feature that displays tweets from other users. This is an important step because it will likely be the only way to stop bots from taking over Twitter.
Limiting polls to those who pay for the blue
Twitter polls have become a popular way for people to ask questions and get responses from their followers. They are also a great way to engage with your audience and see what they think about important issues.
Users are able to vote in tweet polls on the Twitter website or through its apps for iOS and Android. Each poll has four answer options, a 25-character limit and a time window for voting. Once a poll is completed, the results are visible to everyone who has voted.
In reply to a skeptical user about the poll’s legitimacy, Musk indicated that he would revise the rules, restricting future policy-related poll voting privileges to Twitter Blue subscribers. This change could be a way for him to walk back his pledge to respect the results of a poll he launched on Sunday evening that asked users whether they thought he should step down as CEO of Twitter.
He also says that only verified accounts will be able to access For You recommendations that display tweets from accounts based on your history on Twitter. This is a measure he believes will help address advanced AI bot swarms taking over on the platform.
To be eligible to appear in ‘For You’ recommendations, users must have a paid Twitter Blue subscription which starts at $8 per month for U.S. computer users and increases to $11 for iOS and Android users. It includes a number of perks, including blue checkmarks, an organized bookmarks folder, a tweet edit function and custom icons and site themes.
While this is a good move, it could have the potential to reduce the number of people who can use Twitter Blue. It’s also likely to skew those who can use Twitter Blue towards the users who are willing to pay for it.