Image: © fewerton/Stock.adobe.com
The new subscription lets businesses show which individual Twitter accounts are linked with their brand, though it’s unclear how much it will cost.
Twitter has announced a new version of its Blue subscription service to help businesses identify themselves and their employees on the platform.
Subscribers of Twitter Blue for Business will be able to link their affiliated “individuals, businesses and brands” to their main Twitter account, the company said.
These linked accounts will get a small badge of their parent company’s profile picture next to their own verified checkmark.
An example of how Twitter Blue for Business works, with the main account visible on the left and an employee on the right. Image: Twitter
Twitter said it is piloting the service with a “select group of businesses”, including its own. For example, a small Twitter logo is now visible next to the account name of its head of early-stage products Esther Crawford.
The main accounts for businesses will also have the new gold checkmark instead of the traditional blue one for verified accounts.
“By creating this connection, we’re making it possible for businesses to create networks within their own organisations on Twitter,” the company said in a blogpost.
“Businesses can affiliate their leadership, brands, support handles, employees or teams. Journalists, sports team players or movie characters can all be affiliated.”
Twitter said it will roll the service out to more businesses next year. It is unclear how much the new subscription will cost, how business accounts will be verified or what the criteria for eligibility will be.
The announcement comes a week after Twitter relaunched its Blue subscription service, allowing users to pay to receive a ‘verified’ blue tick.
Polls: Yes or no?
Meanwhile, there continues to be controversy surrounding new Twitter CEO Elon Musk and how major business decisions are being handled.
The platform faced a backlash when it announced that it would no longer allow the “free promotion of certain social media platforms” on Twitter earlier this week.
However, this new policy was removed within hours. A poll was then posted on Twitter’s Safety account, asking users if there should be a policy targeting accounts that focus on advertising other social media platforms.
The poll received nearly 327,000 votes, with 87pc of users voting against such a measure.
Musk recently hinted that other major policy changes on Twitter could be decided based on the votes of users.
He launched his own poll earlier this week, asking users if he should “step down as head of Twitter”.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
The poll ended with more than 17m votes, with roughly 57pc in favour of Musk stepping down.
Although the new boss said he would “abide by the results of the poll”, he has not commented on the prospect of stepping down since the poll closed yesterday (19 December).
In response to a user who said only Blue subscribers should be allowed to vote in policy-related polls, Musk said it was a “good point” and that Twitter “will make that change”.
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