Social Media Discussion

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Apr 20, 2023 7:55 pm

Wheeeeeeeee

https://twitter.com/alexeheath/status/1 ... MFUBA&s=19

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:01 pm

That is some janky shit.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:15 pm

pr0ner wrote: Thu Apr 20, 2023 5:21 pm Legacy blue checks are gone.

Let the chaos begin.

Not if you're Stephen King
https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/ ... 0525423626

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:13 am

Gonna guess that celebs are somehow unaffected by the paid subscription model and were never going to be in the first place and that it just shows a standard verification message.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:57 am

Rumpy wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:13 am Gonna guess that celebs are somehow unaffected by the paid subscription model and were never going to be in the first place and that it just shows a standard verification message.

They are affected if and when someone impersonates them.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 1:42 am

Rumpy wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:13 am Gonna guess that celebs are somehow unaffected by the paid subscription model and were never going to be in the first place and that it just shows a standard verification message.

I just did a quick sampling of celebrities and there are plenty of who no longer have blue check marks:

Halle Berry: No
Robert Downey Jr: No
Samuel Jackson: No
Ryan Reynolds: Yes
Chris Evans: No
Hugh Jackman: Yes
Matthew McConaughey: No
Leonardo DiCaprio: No
Rihanna: Yes
Taylor Swift: Yes
Katy Perry: No
Shakira: No

Apparently a lot of the ones with checkmarks appear to be ponying up the subscription fee, if Mashable is to be believed. Would Mashable lie to us? I have no idea...

Rihanna, Taylor Swift among the few celebrities paying Twitter to keep their blue checkmarks

So who is paying?

Some of the biggest celebrities to cough up the $8 include musical artists like Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Miley Cyrus. In fact, of the few celebs that have signed up, singers and artists probably make up the bulk of it. Britney Spears, The Weeknd, Joe and Nick Jonas, Cardi B, Chance the Rapper, Coldplay, David Guetta, Shawn Mendes, and Snoop Dogg are among the other big names in music who have subscribed.

Over in Hollywood, actors Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, Hugh Jackman, and Neil Patrick Harris are keeping their blue checkmarks for a monthly fee.

In sports, pro tennis player Novak Djokovic as well as NBA stars Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony subscribed. Pro wrestlers John Cena and Randy Orton did too.

Talk show hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Ellen DeGenres also subscribe to Twitter Blue, as did online influencers like Mr. Beast and both Jake and Logan Paul.

Even one of the Kardashians decided it was worth it. (It's Khloe.)

Some celebrities who publicly declared that they wouldn't subscribe, or criticized the move to pay for a checkmark, like LeBron James, Stephen King, and William Shatner, all have a blue checkmark and are labeled as paying subscribers of Twitter Blue.

There are a few other big-name actors and artists with smaller followings than the ones mentioned who have subscribed to Twitter Blue, but the ones above make up the biggest. Following that you have quite a few big personalities in right-wing politics who have subscribed such as Tucker Carlson, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and Joe Rogan.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:18 am

Elon Musk is "paying" for some famous celebs to keep their blue checks. He's said so himself, at least in the case of LeBron James and Stephen King.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:44 am

Plus many celeb twitter accounts are probably maintained by a PR staff, at least at the administrative level. The staff may have just paid like any other recurring cost.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 8:29 am

This is a funny response:

https://twitter.com/dcunited/status/164 ... PsNMA&s=19

Klich posted "Twitter go home you're drunk" and a screenshot of them trying to get him to buy Twitter Blue before he changed his name.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:23 am

pr0ner wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:18 am Elon Musk is "paying" for some famous celebs to keep their blue checks. He's said so himself, at least in the case of LeBron James and Stephen King.

If Stephen King accepted that, I will have lost faith in his integrity considering his past stance on all this.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:29 am

hepcat wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:23 am
pr0ner wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:18 am Elon Musk is "paying" for some famous celebs to keep their blue checks. He's said so himself, at least in the case of LeBron James and Stephen King.
If Stephen King accepted that, I will have lost faith in his integrity considering his past stance on all this.

Sounded yesterday like Musk is turning it on for certain people (mostly those high profile folks who have been particularly vocal about not paying for it), whether they actually want it or not.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:38 am

Stephen King's response to the free blue tick:

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:58 am

I assumed that would be his reaction. He's been pretty vocal about his opposition to the crap Musk is trying to pull.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 11:48 am

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:29 am
hepcat wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:23 am
pr0ner wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:18 am Elon Musk is "paying" for some famous celebs to keep their blue checks. He's said so himself, at least in the case of LeBron James and Stephen King.
If Stephen King accepted that, I will have lost faith in his integrity considering his past stance on all this.
Sounded yesterday like Musk is turning it on for certain people (mostly those high profile folks who have been particularly vocal about not paying for it), whether they actually want it or not.

Yep, and not being particularly subtle about it either.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:34 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:44 am Plus many celeb twitter accounts are probably maintained by a PR staff, at least at the administrative level. The staff may have just paid like any other recurring cost.

That's a good point.

It'll be interesting to see if any of the celebrity accounts that still have a check mark drop it when they realize it may no longer be the asset that it once was. For a minor celebrity, I can see a business case for ponying up a lousy $8/month in order to get the extra visibility that The Algorithm gives to Twitter Blue accounts, but people like Ryan Reynolds or Taylor Swift don't need to pay for clout and in many cases don't seem like the type to declare for Team Musk with all the associated baggage that goes with that.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 1:35 pm

gilraen wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:57 am
Rumpy wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:13 am Gonna guess that celebs are somehow unaffected by the paid subscription model and were never going to be in the first place and that it just shows a standard verification message.
They are affected if and when someone impersonates them.

Well yes, but I thought that was more obvious. I was thinking more in terms of being on some sort of Twitter whitelist.

Max Peck wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 1:42 am
I just did a quick sampling of celebrities and there are plenty of who no longer have blue check marks:

Huh, ok, so that blew my theory out of the water. Maybe Musk was just playing favourites in the end.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Apr 21, 2023 3:04 pm

I'm more cynical. I assumed that Musk chose high-profile people with lots of followers with the hope/assumption that the followers would sign up for the "service" when they saw celebrities that they follow signed up.

Basically, I assumed it was a scam to get more money. Well... beyond the obvious scam to get more money.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 9:52 am

https://twitter.com/ansonmount/status/1 ... UdKaQ&s=19

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 4:20 pm

Yep, he's right. And the only thing that'd be worse is if Musk made people pony up via Crypto to get that blue checkmark.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 6:43 am

Twitter Blue now means either that you are a paying customer or that Elon wishes you liked him enough to be a paying customer.

Elon Caves, Gives Blue Checks Back to Twitter’s Biggest Celebs

After approximately two days of purging “legacy checkmarks,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk appears to be waving the white flag.

Across Twitter on Saturday, some of the platform’s biggest names, from Stephen King to Chrissy Teigen, expressed surprise when their fickle checkmarks suddenly reappeared.

“Friends told me my blue verified check was restored. Dont know why. I've paid nothing. I gave no number,” tweeted Seinfeld star Jason Alexander.

It appeared that Musk had only restored the blue checks to users with the highest follower counts, seemingly caving on an issue that has deviled the platform since he made the decision to introduce his $8-a-month Twitter Blue verification system.

Musk’s decision on Thursday to finally make good on his promise to only verify those who paid the fee threw the platform into chaos, with the mass de-verification opening the door for a host of celebrity imposter accounts.

Yet in classic Musk fashion, the Chief Twit initially attempted to cast his capitulation as an epic troll.

“I will pay for your blue check – my gift to you,” Musk tweeted in response to a thread in which former Labor Secretary Robert Reich rejected his blue check and denounced the “oligarchs who have too much power over the Internet.”

Musk later tweeted “check mate.”

However, the move appeared to be much more far-reaching than a mere prank on those who had criticized the verification system.

From Pope Francis to former President Donald Trump, numerous notables who had not waded into the blue check debacle also saw their verifications restored after briefly losing them.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 10:51 am

If you are a masochist, Musk will be on with Bill Maher next Friday.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 10:55 am

A scheduled rapid disassembly?

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 12:58 pm

Max Peck wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 6:43 am Twitter Blue now means either that you are a paying customer or that Elon wishes you liked him enough to be a paying customer.

Not sure if true but...
https://twitter.com/PopRadars/status/16 ... 66114?s=20

Twitter is now Auto-Verifying accounts for FREE with 1M+ followers including originally Unverified accounts

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 1:29 pm

I don't know why, Max, but it reads like a parody. Anyone closely watching would have realized it was a bad idea from the start.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 1:40 pm

I'm sure I'm showing my age here, but if anyone was part of a BBS in the 80s or 90s, everything Elon is doing is reminding me of teenagers trying to run a message board. Apparently if you're insanely wealthy, you can't fail hard enough.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 2:28 pm

BI

Dead celebrities are the latest to endorse Twitter Blue — at least according to the verification badges applied to their profiles.

Kobe Bryant, Norm Macdonald, Anthony Bourdain, Chadwick Boseman, and Michael Jackson were among the celebrities who each got a posthumous blue check added to their Twitter accounts as the site began to purge legacy verifications on Thursday, pivoting to only displaying the checks on the profiles who pay for the subscription service.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 2:40 pm

Yeah, he's throwing everything including the kitchen sink, waits to see what's unpopular, then walks it back. But at the same time, he's like a kid not seeing the consequences of his actions.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:13 pm

gilraen wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 12:58 pm
Twitter is now Auto-Verifying accounts for FREE with 1M+ followers including originally Unverified accounts

Although a certain asshole seems to be imposing some degree of editorial discretion here.

For example, @GretaThunberg has nearly 6 million followers, but she doesn't have the free restored checkmark.

Plus, does "verification" even mean what it used to? If I create the account @Greta_Thunberg and throw eight bucks to Elon, will I *not* get a checkmark?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:19 pm

It means they've verified that you have $8.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:23 pm

Right. They say it means that the user has "verified their phone number," but I believe all that means is that I provided a number to which they could send a security code, which I sent back. It doesn't mean anything remotely like checking to see that I am really Thunberg.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 6:04 pm

#Meta_Thunberg

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Mon Apr 24, 2023 9:46 am

Holman wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:13 pm
gilraen wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 12:58 pm
Twitter is now Auto-Verifying accounts for FREE with 1M+ followers including originally Unverified accounts

Although a certain asshole seems to be imposing some degree of editorial discretion here.

For example, @GretaThunberg has nearly 6 million followers, but she doesn't have the free restored checkmark.

Plus, does "verification" even mean what it used to? If I create the account @Greta_Thunberg and throw eight bucks to Elon, will I *not* get a checkmark?

Apparently they can get rid of the checkmark by changing their names and then changing them back (per Patton Oswald). I don't know if that's what Greta did, but it's possible.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Apr 24, 2023 9:49 am

Zaxxon wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:19 pm It means they've verified that you have $8.

And a burner phone.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu Apr 27, 2023 7:21 pm

Musk totally throwing ideas at the wall to try to make up for the fact he totally eviscerated the site's business model.

https://twitter.com/business/status/1651713082274508802

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Thu Apr 27, 2023 7:25 pm

Keep it coming!

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Apr 27, 2023 7:49 pm

malchior wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 7:21 pm Musk totally throwing ideas at the wall to try to make up for the fact he totally eviscerated the site's business model.

https://twitter.com/business/status/1651713082274508802

I mean isn't it natural to charge $50,000 a month to have voice in the public square run by the free speech absolutist?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Apr 27, 2023 8:50 pm

LordMortis wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 7:49 pm
malchior wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 7:21 pm Musk totally throwing ideas at the wall to try to make up for the fact he totally eviscerated the site's business model.

https://twitter.com/business/status/1651713082274508802
I mean isn't it natural to charge $50,000 a month to have voice in the public square run by the free speech absolutist?

Pay $50K to create real-time content with a built-in captive audience? Yeah, that makes sense.

Next, he'll be charging flight attendants $250K to give him handjobs.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Sat Apr 29, 2023 12:10 am

Holman wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:23 pm Right. They say it means that the user has "verified their phone number," but I believe all that means is that I provided a number to which they could send a security code, which I sent back. It doesn't mean anything remotely like checking to see that I am really Thunberg.

Holman Thunberg. Has a sort of Nordic bad-ass ring to it, doesn't it?

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Sat Apr 29, 2023 8:52 am

Jeff V wrote: Sat Apr 29, 2023 12:10 am
Holman wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:23 pm Right. They say it means that the user has "verified their phone number," but I believe all that means is that I provided a number to which they could send a security code, which I sent back. It doesn't mean anything remotely like checking to see that I am really Thunberg.
Holman Thunberg. Has a sort of Nordic bad-ass ring to it, doesn't it?

This was your 36,000 post on OO. Just wanted you to know which one it was.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sat Apr 29, 2023 1:09 pm

https://twitter.com/MattBinder/status/1 ... o62Yg&s=19