Mohamed Taher Djaziri CEO Digital Discovery

As Elon Musk promised, X has now released two new tiers to its X Premium subscription service, aimed at attracting more people to pay to use the app.. The new levels will complement the existing X Premium plan, with “Premium+,” priced at $16 per month, offering ad-free extras.. .. First, on Premium Basic, X's cheapest subscription plan.. The basic plan comes with some extra features, including post editing, longer posts, and encrypted DMs.. This doesn't give you a blue check mark, but it does give you a "small response boost," meaning your messages in the app are more likely to be seen.. So this probably depends on how many users sign up and how much of an impact that has on the boost that X can give to users' paid posts.. But at this time, Basic subscribers will receive limited increases.. That's better than nothing, but I'm not sure it's much of an incentive.. Additionally, the fact that Basic users don't get a blue check seems like a missed opportunity.. The problem is that almost all of the add-on's basic incentives are for people who post within the app, but 80% of X users never post.. So these options probably won't be very appealing, even for $3 a month, when at least in theory a blue check mark could generate more signups.. But then again, the checkmark now only indicates you're a paying user and not a high-status person, so maybe that's not something to worry about.. Additionally, Basic users are not eligible for X's ad revenue sharing program.. On the other hand, the "X Premium+" tier includes all ads removal from your experience.. The $16 fee would ideally take into account the loss that taking into account differences in advertising consumption.. The removal of ads could potentially be a high-value offering for at least some users, though the value of avoiding ads, versus paying $US168 per year (X's discounted annual package) to use X is probably not a viable calculation for most.. But there are other benefits.. As you can see in the chart above, Premium+ users also get access to every subscriber benefit, while they also get the “largest reply boost”, which, again, will be relative to overall take-up.. But, essentially, you're maximizing your chances of your posts being seen, while also avoiding ads.. Maybe that'll be appealing to brands, who don't want to pay for X ads, though that could also see X's reply streams filled with spammy promos and vague responses linked to viral posts.. Overall, it seems fairly pricey for an ad-free experience, which most people are already used to, so I'm not sure that it's going to be a big seller.. But the new offerings do provide alternatives, which should see at least some additional users subscribing to the app.. This is X's latest push to boost subscription intake, which Elon believes is a key avenue to solving some of X's biggest challenges.. By getting more users to pay for the app, that, at least in theory, will act as a disincentive for bot farms, because as more users subscribe, that will then better highlight the bot profiles in-stream, as they'll be the non-paying, non-checkmark accounts.. Though the new Basic package doesn't give you a checkmark either, so it won't be effective in this respect.. The increased number of responses also means that non-billable bot accounts (as they require a mobile phone number and credit card for each account) will have less reach, which , which in theory, could make it harder for bot sellers to gain traction.. application.. Various cybersecurity experts don't think this approach will actually work, but again, you can see the expected value of this push from this perspective.. More paying subscribers also brings freedom of speech. And finally, dismantling the old verification system gave Elon the opportunity to respond to profiles that he personally resented.. This may be the most damaging factor, because by removing the old checkmarks, Elon also devalued the reputation-enhancing aspect of the blue checkmark, but this now allows him , for example, remove the blue check mark from the New York Times account.. if he doesn't like what they bring back.. The last point also highlights a key challenge in Musk's overall approach at the app, in that his decisions are driven by ideology and personal perspective, as opposed to what's best for the business.. Musk now regularly shares his opinions on various divisive topics, and those leanings are also clearly defining X policy.. Some would argue that previous Twitter management was also guided by its own ideology, but much of that was based on advice from authorities and official information providers.. Musk seems to be increasingly leaning on less reputable sources, and aligning X policies with such.. And that, at least for advertisers, puts the app in uncomfortable territory.. But Elon seems determined to stick with his original approach to app management, even though less than 0..5% of registered users have paid for X Premium so far..