Is Twitter Blue worth $ 3 a month?

Last week, Twitter’s “premium” subscription campaign began in the United States. Twitter Blue is a $ 3-a-month subscription that offers subscribers the opportunity to add features, such as a refresh button and free ads.

In the meantime, Twitter Blue comes with some additional tools designed for people who spend a lot of time in the ministry. According to Sara Beukpour of Twitter, the group includes “long-known Twitter users” as well as “news lovers” and other “top tweets”. In other words: 25 percent of Twitter users post on all tweets.

“I’m stealing a lot of them and you,” Beykpour told a briefing with a group of professional journalists last week. Yes I signed up right away.

And after a week ago with Twitter Blue, I’m not sure it’s worth $ 3 a month for most people. Which is very helpful, but it is a pity that not everything works the same as the Twitter app and website. But no doubt there are some useful features, and I’m interested in what might come on “premium Twitter.” In the meantime, here’s what $ 3 is all about for you.

‘Replace’ tweets

Of all the Twitter Blue features, the “edit” button has received a lot of attention. Twitter will probably not give us the real deal , so this is probably the closest thing we can find. And if you like typos or tweeting-and-n-whispering right away, this alone might be worth signing up for. I say that probably because “redesign” can be very confusing, and it doesn’t work as well as you might expect.

It should work as part of Gmail’s “edit send” section. When you finish “send,” you will have a few seconds to see the tweet you wrote, but it has not been published. If you change your mind for any reason, you can hit “edit,” which takes you back to the tweet on the post page. Twitter gives you the option to choose how long this window is – it can last from 5 seconds to 60 seconds – and you can always choose to post a window before it closes with extra clicks.

But deleting a tweet does not work the same way on the Twitter app and website page. On the Twitter app, you can use “modify” almost any type of tweet: original tweets (tweets sent from the main post window), replies, threads, repetitive tweets and choices. Instead, you can “modify” almost anything you write, anywhere in the app. But that’s it no article on twitter.com, where the editing work works with initial tweets and responses, but not with tweets or threads. Unless you just send a tweet from your phone, this means you have to remember the tweets flexible impossible and non-existent. Tweets with a typo can be eliminated, but poorly sounded words cannot.

There is also the point that it can take several steps to change a tweet. In the Twitter app, the default setting is that the first thing you see when you combine a tweet button with your tweet is the “edit” button. This gives you more time to read, even if you have a small “window”. But on Twitter, you can simply switch to the “view tweet” conversation. down of the page and then go to the page with your tweet and edit button.

In some cases, the “view tweet” is not visible at all, and the only way to get “changes” is to go into your profile and look at the pending tweet in your time. Not only is this an extra confusing part, but it also makes it difficult to use the edit button at all. Is it still useful to have? I think, but its unexpectedness made me more anxious than not having any at all.

Statistics and storage folders

The reading form is probably the wettest part on Twitter Blue, and the one I would argue would be useful for all users of the site, not just those who want to pay. It translates long threads into very few words, as read by browsers. I hate distractions (and suspicious) third-party software that “opens” tweets in various pages, but there is a reason why these services are popular: long threads are difficult to read. The Twitter service is not designed to be a long-winded tweet, and long threads are often cut. Reader interface is a simple method that is very useful I can not believe it took them a long time to make.

It’s also great when connected with something new: storage folders. Now, when I encounter a very long storm that I want to get back to, I just add to my “read” folder and continue. Except, again, the folders are only supported by the Twitter app. Go to twitter.com and all your storage is still in disrepair.

Non-commercial news and ‘top stories’

My favorite thing about Twitter Blue – and a big part of the reason why I can continue to donate $ 3 every month for that reason – is “high profile news”. This article will show you a list of all the stories that people share the most on your Twitter network 24 hours ago. If this sounds like a good idea, it’s because Twitter and Twitter are rocking Nuzzel, an independent app that also made posts based on what people you follow on Twitter. But the original app was shut down when Twitter , the original story that bought Nuzzel.

And while “Top Notes” doesn’t have all the work Nuzzel has done before, it’s enough to whip up those who love the app (a team that seems to have been made by the media as much as I can). But even if you have never used Nuzzel, Top Notes is useful. It allows you to quickly analyze what people you are following are reading and writing tweets. Or, you know, you can just use it to find out who it is of the day.

Scroll’s Twitter acquisition also reinforces another aspect of Twitter Blue: non-advertising stories. Scroll (and now Twitter) has formed relationships with hundreds of news outlets to enable them to browse without ads in exchange for a subscription share. Now, Twitter allows subscribers to see the amount of their targeted browsing activity for their publishers. It’s an interesting idea, and that won Scroll a lot of praise before it was bought by Twitter.

It’s the Twitter Blue section that I love most to see. As it is now, it can feel a little disconnected. While taking off the ad is a good idea, it also does not include access to paywall content, so it can be frustrating to see a “free ad and Twitter Blue” sign hit the paywall. However, Twitter that one day it will follow many ways to get things with paywall – and the message in the app states that paywall access is not included “right now” – so there is good reason to believe that one day it may change.

The first step to innovation is to customize

Twitter has become very popular with what it has been trying to do in recent years. The company once had a beta version of the software that it used to test new tweaks. The app is no longer available, but Twitter Blue’s “labs” look in some ways like a replacement. The company plans to make further efforts to reach Twitter Blue subscribers first, before deciding whether it should be a full-fledged public service.

At the moment, there are only two things that fall into this category: the ability to put real chats on top of your DM box, and the ability to upload videos up to 10 minutes (long videos are not new, but accounts. Had to be approved by Twitter to get the format). I am grateful for the opportunity to do both, although I have not used anything and I doubt that others will not.

Lastly, Twitter Blue also gives you the ability to create small tweaks to view and feel the Twitter app. For example, you can change the image of the app or set up a new theme (the “title” simply changes small details such as the type of tweet and the dot that appears when you have new information). You can also choose to change the shortcuts at the bottom of the app, which are usually cool (especially if you want, say, running Spaces Tab). But, again, these are just a few tips that I can not imagine that many people are struggling to change.

Is it worth it?

Whether you think all that is worth three cents a month depends on how much you spend on Twitter (and how you want to pay for apps). While I don’t think it makes sense to most people, I think it is compelling for anyone who relies on Twitter for their work or falls into the dedicated “super tweeter” category.

And although Twitter did not say much about the number of subscribers, the app has generated nearly $ 180,000 since it launched Twitter Twitter this summer, according to analytics company Sensor Tower. This is not an increase in Twitter revenue, but it does indicate that there are fewer people who want to try it (and the service is still available in only four countries).

To a large extent, Twitter Blue raises important questions about how the company will develop innovations. While the company has maintained that there will always be a free Twitter version, it is not hard to imagine that interesting and useful updates could be locked behind subscriptions. Twitter has been around for the past decade without any innovations, so it is still a bit difficult to see the company adding the types of products that users have been waiting for so long, and just giving to those who want to pay.