In addition to relaunching Twitter Blue, the network has also included “community notes,” a user-driven fact-checking system. According to Elon Musk, there will also be a substantial rise in the character limit.
Following a disastrous launch that saw the network swamped with imposters, Twitter has relaunched its premium membership.
After assuming control of Twitter in October, Elon Musk made extending the Twitter Blue service a priority. One of the most significant changes was offering members the profile checkmark previously reserved for verified users.
As pranksters impersonated ex-president George W. Bush, ex-prime minister Tony Blair, and the official page of gaming giant Nintendo, the move swiftly deteriorated into farce.
It forced Twitter to suspend the service for a month, and it relaunched on Monday at the same monthly cost of £6.99 (USD 8) in the UK.
Registration grants users access to an edit button, the option to upload lengthier videos, amplification of their posts, and fewer advertisements.
Blue’s return will also allow Twitter to remove its “official” tags, which were put on some accounts to differentiate verified users under the previous system from paying members.
Included are sports organizations, businesses, and media entities, whose labels will shortly be replaced with either gold or grey checkmarks.
Musk discloses significant expansion of character limit
Before Blue’s return, the billionaire owner of Twitter hinted at modifications to the platform’s character limit.
In response to a question regarding speculation that the limit might go from 280 to a staggering 4,000, Musk provided a simple one-word response.
The current restriction has been in effect for five years, having been set at 140 initially.
Users are opposed to Musk’s idea to boost it by more than 1,300%, with some fearing that it will weaken one of Twitter’s defining traits and make it more similar to Facebook.
It would likely be another step toward making Twitter into “X, the everything app,” as Musk has repeatedly proposed as a means of increasing the platform’s popularity.
The plan has been compared to China’s WeChat, which integrates familiar features such as instant messaging, a marketplace, and public postings in a single location.
Community notes function arrives in the UK
Beginning on Monday, Twitter users in the United Kingdom may notice another new feature: community notes.
It allows users to contribute “useful and instructive context to tweets” to combat disinformation.
Notes can be reviewed based on their usefulness, and those that obtain positive ratings will be shown alongside the tweet.
During testing, the function was exclusively accessible in the United States under the name Birdwatch.
People in the United Kingdom can now join up to participate in the feature, which has a dedicated page with three tabs: “needs your help,” “new,” and “rated helpful.”
The first column displays tweets with notes including varied perspectives that require additional user response, the second column displays the most recently submitted notes, and the third column has the most upvoted ones.
Accounts must have been on Twitter for at least six months, have a verified phone number with a reputable phone carrier, and have not violated the platform’s rules within the past month.
