Tag: Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter reportedly now requires verification from all advertisers

If you’re a person or a business looking to advertise on Twitter, it looks like you’ll have to start coughing up cash.

Several users of the Elon Musk-owned social media platform are sharing screenshots of this policy update. In it, the statement reads, “starting April 21, your @account must have a verified checkmark or subscribe to either Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations to continue running ads on Twitter.”

For context, Twitter Blue costs $10/month, while a verified organization status costs $1,000/month.

The statement further elaborates, “this change aligns with Twitter’s broader verification strategy: to elevate the quality of content on Twitter and enhance your experience as a user and advertiser. This approach also supports our ongoing efforts to reduce fraudulent accounts and bots.”

This development comes after the official phasing out of the platforms’ legacy blue checkmark system, a Twitter staple that hasn’t lasted the Musk acquisition.

The official Twitter page for ad account creation has not provided any updates, nor has Musk himself Tweeted about the change as of yet.

Source: @MattNavarra Via: TechCrunch

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter removes “Government-funded” label from news organizations’ accounts

Last week, CBC, alongside other media organizations, received a badge on their Twitter profiles that read “Government-funded Media.”

Subsequently, CBC appealed, saying it is “less than 70% government-funded.” Twitter CEO Elon Musk, being the troll that he is, changed CBC’s Twitter account badge to read “69% Government-funded Media.”

On April 17th, CBC stated on Twitter that it’s “pausing” all activity on the social media platform, noting that its “journalism is impartial and independent.”

Now, Twitter has removed the “government-funded” label from news organizations’ Twitter handles. The labels were removed on Friday, including those on accounts affiliated with the British Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Service, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and China state-backed broadcaster CGTN, among others.

Musk has been working on changing the way Twitter identifies users as he seeks to profit from verification and labels that single out certain groups, such as large businesses and prominent individuals. This comes soon after Twitter removed Blue legacy verification checkmarks from user profiles, including MobileSyrup‘s Twitter account. 

Many news outlets, including the CBC had complained that the labels unfairly implied their journalism was influenced by government. On the other hand, the removal of the labels has sparked controversy, with critics arguing that it could lead to confusion among Twitter users about the funding and affiliations of news organizations.

However, Musk’s efforts to change the way Twitter identifies users are likely to continue as he seeks to monetize the platform’s verification and labeling systems.

Source: Bloomberg

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter starts removing legacy verified checkmarks

Elon Musk and Twitter have been adamant about removing legacy verified checkmarks from users’ profiles. The social media platform’s CEO first intended to initiate the removal of legacy checkmarks on April 1st, but that never happened.

This time around, however, Twitter’s official account shared that starting 4/20, only those who sign up for Twitter Blue would retain their Blue checkmark, and the social media company wasn’t kidding.

We can confirm that legacy verified checkmarks have been removed from user profiles. For reference, MobileSyrup‘s legacy checkmark has been pulled.

The company’s former leadership had assigned verified blue check marks to accounts as a means of distinguishing accounts of noteworthy individuals and public organizations. Now, however, anyone can get a Blue checkmark on their Twitter profile by paying $10/month or $105/year.

During the checkmark removal process today, certain users, including MobileSyrup staff, experienced perplexing glitches where their blue check marks vanished, reappeared, and disappeared again.

This comes soon after Twitter Blue expanded worldwide.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Mobile Syrup

CBC wants Twitter to change its label to ‘Publicly-funded media’

The Global Task Force is urging Twitter to change the “Government-funded Media” labels designated to several accounts.

The CBC is part of the group and received the label last week before CEO Elon Musk changed its label to “69 percent Government-funded Media.”

The group says the “misleading label” was also assigned to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

The CBC points to Twitter’s policy, that states government-funded media might see government officials involved in the editorial content in some way. That’s ” clearly not the case with ABC, CBC/Radio-Canada, KBS or RNZ,” a CBC press release says.

If any label is to be applied to these accounts, it should be “Publicly-funded media,” the broadcaster says.

After all, it’s a change Twitter has already implemented for several BBC Twitter accounts. Originally labelled “Government-funded Media,” Twitter changed it after opposition from the broadcaster.

“Twitter’s approach to labelling on the basis of funding misunderstands the fundamental concept of public service media: they are publicly funded organizations that are statutorily independent of government influence. This model has served audiences well in democratic countries for much of the last century.”

Members from several media outlets around the world, including the BBC, KBS, and CBC, make up the task force.

Image credit: CBC/Twitter

Source: CBC

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft to drop Twitter from advertising plan starting April 25

Microsoft is going to drop Twitter from its Microsoft Advertising plan next week, according to a new “Multi-platform: Social network engagement” post from the company.

“Starting on April 25, 2023, Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform will no longer support Twitter,” reads the page.

Because of the change, starting April 25th, users will not be able to access their Twitter account through Microsoft’s social management tool. They also won’t be able to create and manage drafts or Tweets. Additionally, those who use Microsoft’s Digital Marketing Center for Twitter wouldn’t be able to view past Tweets and engagement or schedule Tweets.

Microsoft added that other social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, will continue to be available.

According to Mashable, a similar email is starting to hit the inbox of Microsoft’s social management tool, warning that “Digital Marketing Center (DMC) will no longer support Twitter starting on April 25, 2023.”

Microsoft’s social media service was provided for free to advertisers and was prominently featured in Microsoft Advertising’s Digital Marketing Center dashboard. It worked alongside the platform’s social and search paid advertising tools, which helped businesses run and manage their paid ad campaigns on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram, and Microsoft’s search advertising.

The announcement from Microsoft comes just one day after Twitter owner Elon Musk appeared at a major marketing and advertising conference where he attempted to lure brands back to the platform after Twitter lost half of its biggest advertisers following his takeover of the company.

Musk doesn’t seem to be too happy about the development. In a tweet reply to the news, Musk said that Microsoft “trained illegally using Twitter data,” and that it is “lawsuit time.” If Musk does indeed file a lawsuit against Microsoft, it would be quite a big deal. One of the world’s richest men going after one of the largest companies would undoubtedly damage both Twitter and Microsoft. Further, just last year alone, Microsoft made over $12 billion from digital ads that were produced, operated, and delivered using its advertising platform. Removing Twitter access for advertisers is sure to reduce earnings for the software giant.

Image credit: Microsoft

Source: Microsoft, via: Mashable

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter removes section of Hateful Conduct Policy protecting transgender users

Twitter has changed its Hateful Conduct Policy to get rid of protections for its transgender users, which was first spotted by the nonprofit organization Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and reported by The Verge.

In the Hateful Conduct Policy, Twitter used to have a line that included “repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category,” but removed the part that read “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”

GLAAD used Wayback Machine to learn that Twitter removed the inclusion of misgendering and deadnaming people back on April 8th. Twitter originally added the misgendering and deadnaming back in 2018 to cover transgender users.

Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, states that this is another example of how unsafe the company is for its users and advertisers.

TikTok and Pinterest prohibit misgendering and deadnaming in their hate and harassment policies. Meta has also stated that it will “prohibit violent or dehumanizing content directed against people who identify as LGBTQ+ and remove claims about someone’s gender identity upon their request.”

According to The Verge, Twitter hasn’t completely gotten rid of its protections; however, the choice to remove misgendering and deadnaming seems like it’s purposefully attacking the trans community.

Source: GLAAD, The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter to start labelling hateful tweets when they’re restricted

Twitter is expected to roll out new labels for tweets that break the company’s rules and are restricted.

The platform says it restricts tweets that violate its policies by making them harder to find, and this new change will make it more clear to users when that happens.

The original process of making tweets harder to find is known as visibility filtering, a system the company has admitted that “like other social platforms, we have not historically been transparent when we’ve taken this action.”

According to a blog post from Twitter Saftey, the new labels are set to appear on tweets that violate Twitter’s Hateful Conduct policy. The labels are set to only be implemented at the tweet level, and will not affect the user’s account.

The social media giant says it’s open to feedback both on the new changes, as well as giving power to users by allowing them to appeal decisions made to label inappropriate content. Twitter will also not run ads beside labelled tweets.

Twitter also plans to expand the labels to other “applicable policy areas” later this year. It will be interesting to see how the platform labels tweets that have been struck for reasons other than guideline violations, much like Substack‘s were recently.

Source: Twitter Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter slaps CBC with ‘government-funded media’ label

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is protesting Twitter’s move to label it as “government-funded media.”

CEO Elon Musk introduced the label last week, which was initially named “state-affiliated media,” to the Twitter accounts of news outlets receiving some form of funding through the government.

The CBC appears to be the first Canadian outlet to get the label. Musk labelled other public outlets, like NPR and PBS, last week, promoting the companies to stop tweeting. The BBC also received a label. However, unlike the others, it reads “publicly-funded media.”

 

In a letter it shared last week, the CBC said it’s never been a secret that it’s publicly funded. The letter came in response to  Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s request to label the outlet with the “government-funded media” tag.

“CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation that is voted upon by all Members of Parliament,” the CBC tweeted Sunday night. “Its editorial independence is protected in law in the Broadcasting Act.”

It’s unclear if the CBC will take actions similar to NPR and PBS and stop tweeting.

Image credit: CBC/ Twitter

Source: @CBCRadioCanada/Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter Blue members can now send massive 10,000 character tweets

Members of Twitter’s paid subscription, Twitter Blue, now have the ability to use up to 10,000 characters in their tweets, as well as additional text formatting features such as bold and italics.

A tweet from one of the company’s accounts, @TwitterWrite, confirmed the change, revealing that it would occur on April 13th.

Twitter Blue members previously had their character limit for tweets bumped from 280 all the way up to 4,000 in February. The additional formatting changes look like an attempt to stand out from other newsletter platforms such as Substack, which recently introduced a ‘notes’ feature, much to Twitter’s shock.

Before Elon Musk’s takeover of the company in October of 2022, the platform had been toying with ways to up introduce long-form writing, such as its own ‘notes‘ feature. This feature was subsequently axed by Musk after his arrival at the company.

Twitter has also chosen to re-brand its ‘Super Follows’ feature to ‘Subscribers‘ and promote it alongside the new character limit and formatting options for creators looking to earn income directly through Twitter.

Musk tweeted that the company would not be taking any money made by creators through subscriptions for the next twelve months. The ability to monetize through Subscriptions is currently a U.S.-only feature.

If persuasion through new features wasn’t enough, Twitter is beginning to take matters into its own hands to sabotage rival platforms. The company began to block Substack users from embedding tweets into stories before flagging posts with Substack links as “potentially spammy or unsafe.” It wasn’t until Substack introduced its new ‘Notes’ feature that Twitter started to ease off.

It will be interesting to see going forward if a new character limit and text formatting abilities will be enough for everyday users to make the switch to Twitter Blue. Reports from The Information indicate that only around 0.1 percent of daily active users are subscribed to Blue, so Twitter likely hopes these new features can make a difference, and fast.

Source: @TwitterWrite Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter rebrands its monetized content program

Elon Musk has rebranded ‘Super Follows’ to ‘Subscriptions.’

Twitter’s previous leadership introduced Super Follows in 2021, allowing users to monetize their tweets and give subscribers access to special Spaces. According to Musk, users can share content through long-form videos or text.

The Verge also points out newsletters could be a potential additional feature available through Subscriptions. The move comes after Twitter restricted link sharing on Substack after the company announced Notes, a Twitter-like feature that allows users to publish short posts.

Musk claims Twitter won’t keep any of the money it makes from the program for the first year, but will when iOS and Android fees drop.

“You will receive whatever money we receive, so that’s 70 percent for subscriptions on iOS & Android (they charge 30 percent) and ~92 percent on web (could be better, depending on payment processor),” Musk tweeted.

According to Engadget, the rebrand hasn’t changed many of the program’s details. However, it’s important to note Canadians can’t currently monitize their content.

Subscriptions is only available to those in the U.S., according to Musk, who said he’s “working on” expanding availability.

Via: The Verge, Engadget