It seems that the Twitter Blue subscription service has failed to attract verified Twitter users as a report has revealed that half of Twitter Blue service subscribers have less than 1,000 followers on the platform. Notably, Twitter Blue is paid subscription-based program that offers the coveted blue checkmark next to the users' profile name beside other features.
Twitter Blue currently has 4,44,435 paying subscribers, and around 220,132 users have less than 1,000 followers. Meanwhile, only 6,482 legacy verified accounts have paid to subscribe to Twitter Blue. According to a Mashable report, there are also 2,270 paying Twitter Blue subscribers who have zero followers.
Researcher Travis Brown, who has been tracking Twitter Blue subscriptions since January, revealed that 78,059 paying Twitter Blue subscribers have less than 100 users following their accounts. This means that less than 0.2% of Twitter's 254 million daily active users are paying for Twitter Blue.
According to the report, it is unclear how many of those "current" Twitter Blue subscribers are actually not paying.
The data comes as Twitter is set to remove legacy verification checkmarks from the platform from April 1 in favour of paid checkmarks associated with Twitter Blue subscriptions. The Elon Musk-owned microblogging platform has asked individual users and organisations to sign up for its flagship subscription program to retain their blue checkmarks.
There are currently 4,20,000 legacy verified accounts which are mostly celebrities, sportspersons, journalists, influencers, and other notable users. However, their blue check marks will be removed from April 1 if they do not subscribe to Twitter Blue.
Recently, Star Trek actor William Shatner complained about being forced to pay to keep his blue checkmark on the platform. In a tweet, he wrote, ''Hey @elonmusk what's this about blue checks going away unless we pay Twitter? I've been here for 15 years giving my time & witty thoughts all for bupkis. Now you're telling me that I have to pay for something you gave me for free?''
Defending the move, Mr Musk replied, ''It's more about treating everyone equally. There shouldn't be a different standard for celebrities in my opinion.''
On Monday, Elon Musk also said only verified accounts will be eligible to be in Twitter's 'For You' recommendations, which displays a stream of tweets from accounts on Twitter. Not only that, only verified Twitter accounts would be eligible to vote in polls starting April 15.
Launched in India in February, Twitter Blue costs ₹ 900 per month on iOS and Android devices and ₹ 650 on the web. Users can also buy an annual plan that comes with a 12% discount.
