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It’s official: Elon Musk has taken over Twitter. And it hasn’t taken him long to roll out a handful of changes including firing top executives, revising content moderation policies, and most recently, proposing a pay-to-play system for Twitter’s blue checkmark verification system.
His changes are controversial, and many worry these updates could give rise to misinformation or a poor user experience on the social media platform. Some, like Stephen King, have gone so far as to voice their concerns on Twitter and directly chastised Musk for the abrupt shifts in the company’s policies.
Our team here at All About Cookies wanted to find out how people feel about the recent changes at Twitter, so we surveyed 1,250 U.S. adults to better understand whether they agree with Musk’s changes, as well as what they think the future holds for the social platform.
A quick look at Musk’s Twitter profile shows a mix of responses to the proposed $8 monthly fee for the verification checkmark. Some users are firmly against the fee, while others don’t seem bothered.
We asked our survey respondents whether they think a pay-for-verification approach to Twitter’s checkmark would help the platform or not. About a quarter (28%) said that a monthly fee would improve the platform’s user experience, while almost half (45%) didn’t think the fee would result in a better user experience.
Of course, not everyone has strong feelings about Musk’s proposed verification fee, with 27% of U.S. adults saying they have no opinion or aren’t sure whether the fee would improve the Twitter experience.
Currently, Twitter requires users to apply for verification, stating that their account must be “authentic, notable, and active.” The platform goes on to outline specific guidelines for authenticity, notability, and activity by category, including journalists, government officials, and entertainers.
Though the verification system doesn’t ensure content from verified profiles is always reliable, our survey found that the majority of Twitter users (54%) use the verified checkmark to help determine who to trust on the platform. The remaining 46% said they don’t use the checkmark to help determine trustworthiness.
The amount U.S. adults would pay to show other Twitter users their account is verified varies, but most lean toward not paying a cent.
We found that more than 4 in 10 Twitter users (44%) wouldn’t pay anything for a blue checkmark on their account, which isn’t surprising considering verification currently doesn’t cost a dime.
If you consider that many Twitter users also don’t use the platform as a place to promote their business or professional profile, this makes sense. Currently, 0.2%, or 424,000 Twitter profiles are verified out of the platform’s 240 million daily active users.
For those that would find value in a blue checkmark, 27% would pay $1 to $5 a month for the privilege. Similarly, 28% would pay Musk’s proposed fee of $8 a month or more.
When he came under fire for proposing the fee for Twitter’s blue verification checkmark, Musk argued that the fee is “the only way to defeat bots and trolls.” He also argued that the platform needs a way to pay the bills that doesn’t rely solely on advertisers, but declined to elaborate on either point at the time. (Fun fact: 19.4%% of Twitter profiles are fake or spam, according to Sparktoro and Followerwonk.)
It’s true Twitter experienced its biggest revenue hit in Q2 of 2022 — a loss the time the company blamed on challenges faced by the ad industry and, ironically, the pending acquisition by Musk.
But many U.S. adults believe that the future of Twitter is still bright (or at least as bright as it currently is), even with Musk in charge. When asked about the company’s share prices, 38% of U.S. adults said prices will improve under Musk’s leadership, with 22% believing they’ll fall. Similarly, 38% also believe that Twitter’s content quality will improve, and 33% said they think content will become more trustworthy with Musk as CEO
It’s true, social media can be more like a “hive of scum and villainy” than a beacon of truth. It goes without saying that anything you read on Twitter and other platforms should be taken with a grain of salt, but there are other ways to protect yourself from misinformation, fraudsters, and scams on social media.
All About Cookies surveyed 1,250 U.S. adults in November 2022 via Pollfish. Of these, 971 self-reported as Twitter users. Results were stratified across age and gender to create a nationally representative sample.
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