So I bought Twitter blue...

Elon Musk in 2018. The Royal Society. 

As you are probably aware of Twitter is in the news pretty much constantly. I have a fairly active account there (at least by my standards) and I have had problems with the company in the past. But as of tonight I have bought a Twitter Blue subscription. 

What is Twitter Blue? It's Elon Musk's money making operation and it gives users several features, many of which aren't rolled out yet. The first and most obvious is the blue checkmark that in the past was used mostly to denote celebrity and journalist accounts. Now anyone can get one if they are willing to shell out the $8 a month (or $11 if they are on an iPhone). 

Why on earth would I buy this? Several reasons. Some of it is pure pragmatism. My blog gets the vast majority of its views via social media and I would say that Twitter is probably the biggest one. Sometimes I get more from Facebook, but the majority of my views come from Twitter, with other social media sites like Parler and Gab being mostly trivial. 

I have been searching for a different way to advertise my blog for awhile now ever since Facebook beefed up their requirements. I had bought a few advertisements from Facebook but in the wake of the 2016 election they wanted more than my debit card to identify myself. I didn't think Facebook needed a copy of my drivers license, among other things, so I have gone without any advertisement for my blog. That has meant the growth of my blogs readership has largely stayed stagnant. 

Will Twitter Blue help with this? I don't know. I know Elon Musk has said that verified accounts will get preferential treatment and that I would be higher in search results and that could result in more people reading my blog. And people do take the blue check marks seriously for some silly reason, so it could make people more willing to click on links I post. My guess is that it will probably help a little bit, but will it be worth the $8 a month? I don't know. 

Still, some of the other features are pretty cool. I have been waiting for an edit button for a long time and now I finally can edit my tweets in a 30 minute window. That's a huge upgrade and one worth using. They also give you a small cool down period to review what you just tweeted which is probably a good thing as not only does that allow you to change your tweet, you can also think for a few seconds if what you sent out was a good idea or not. 

Honestly though, half the reason I got Twitter blue is because of how entertaining Twitter has been since Musk took over. It reminded me of the good old days of Trump's 2016 run where a huge community sprung up on social media. Plus, it's finally good to see things like Keith Olbermann melting down, getting banned and then being forced to tweet from his rescue dog's account. It honestly is worth it to me to send a few bucks Elon's way just so this circus can continue. 

Will I keep Twitter Blue? Probably. $8 a month is pretty trivial and if I am ever in a situation where it isn't, it's not like it would be hard to cut it out. Some of the new features are nice and like I said, Twitter is actually fun again. I mean, you still have to follow the rules but it's not anywhere near as oppressive feeling it was under the old regime. Time will tell if it is worth it or not, but for now I am just enjoying the ride.