Understanding Twitter Blue: An In-Depth Review and SEO Analysis

Elon Musk began rolling out Twitter Blue, a subscription model, in 2023. The subscription costs $8 per month. Annual membership is available at $84, which is higher than Netflix's premium membership.  

This article provides a hands-on review of Twitter Blue's functions to help evaluate its worth in 2023.

Twitter Blue Features Breakdown

Twitter Blue introduces several features that attempt to enhance the user experience on the platform:

• Edit Tweet: Enables you to tweak your published tweets within 30 minutes of posting.
• Saved Items Folders: Helps you organize your favorite tweets into folders for easy access.
• Custom App Icons: Allows you to alter the appearance of your Twitter app icon on your device.
• NFT as Profile Picture: Show off your NFTs on your Twitter profile with a unique hexagonal design.

• Themes and Custom Navigation: Choose color themes and customize the navigation bar to suit your preference.
• Spaces Tab: This new interface for audio content access is still under trial.
• Featured Articles: Discover the most shared articles within your network quickly.
• Reading Mode: Ensures smooth reading on long tweet threads.
• Undo Tweet: Review and remove a tweet before it becomes visible to others on Twitter.

• Priority Position in Conversations: Your replies get higher visibility in interactions.
• Longer Video Uploads: Upload videos up to 60 minutes long and 2 GB (1080p) in size (web only).
• Longer Tweets: Compose tweets up to 4,000 characters, retaining the standard functionalities.
• Two-Factor Authentication via SMS: Adds an extra layer of security to your account (availability subject to country and telecom provider).
• Twitter Ads: Starting in April 2023, you need to pay for the blue badge if you want to use Twitter Ads.  

Analyzing Twitter Blue's Features

1. Edit and Undo Tweets

The ability to edit and undo tweets is one of the key selling points of Twitter Blue. With this feature, users are given a 30-minute window to revise their tweets after posting, enhancing the experience and the power of control they have over their content.  

The mechanism is simple; once a tweet is sent, it is not posted immediately. A brief delay allows the user to undo the tweet if needed.  

However, there is one notable limitation to this feature. Suppose a tweet was created and edited via the web version of Twitter. In that case, it cannot be edited on the mobile device and vice versa.  

Due to cache issues, both the edited version and the original version of the tweet can be seen on mobile devices. This can lead to some initial confusion, but rest assured that external users can only view the most recent version of the tweet.

2. Reading Mode

Twitter Blue's Reading Mode is a feature designed to enhance the user experience, particularly when reading long threads of tweets. However, it's not the easiest to find - users need to open the first tweet in a thread and look for a book icon in the upper right corner.  

Once activated, the Reading Mode significantly improves how Twitter threads are consumed. There are also options to save tweets in the "Saved Items" folder and adjust the font size, ensuring a smooth reading experience.

3. Saved Items Folders

The ability to create personalized folders to save tweets adds an extra layer of organization to Twitter Blue. For example, you can create a folder called "AI Tools" to save all AI-related tweets. The feature works well on both mobile and desktop versions.

4. Customized App Icons

This aesthetic feature allows users to change the appearance of the Twitter icon on their devices. While it does not justify the subscription cost, it's a nice touch for those who value personalization.

5. Custom Navigation

The custom navigation feature is pretty straightforward but not particularly useful. It allows users to activate or deactivate icons on the navigation bar at the bottom of the mobile version of Twitter. The impact on user experience is minimal.

6. Spaces Tab

While Twitter claims to have added new features to the Spaces Tab, these changes are not yet accessible to everyone. For now, they are only available for select users who use the app in English on Android or iOS devices. When available, the Spaces tab makes it easier to find featured Spaces. If you’re interested in joining live conversations, it’s a good feature.

7. Featured Articles

This new feature provides users with the most-shared articles within their network. It raises some interesting questions, such as the possibility of optimizing these articles to appear in this section.  

At this stage, the key criterion for an article to appear here is the number and relevance of accounts that have tweeted the content. It's important to note that only articles from large media outlets and some public entities seem to be featured.

8. Priority Position in Conversations

This feature seems to promise more than it delivers. Having the blue badge greatly increases the visibility of responses to viral tweets. You’ll easily get 100 reactions or more when you answer in any viral thread.  

9. Longer Video Uploads

In theory, this feature allows users to upload videos of up to one hour in length and 2GB in size. However, if your account hasn't been enabled to upload videos longer than 10 minutes, this extended capability doesn't activate.

10. Longer Tweets

One of the most exciting features of Twitter Blue is the ability to write tweets of up to 4000 characters. This allows users to express more extensive ideas and could replace the need for Twitter threads.  

However, even with the expanded character count, retweets, replies, and mentions still behave the same as regular tweets. In addition, longer tweets are also compatible with polls and media attachments.

11. Two-Factor Authentication via SMS

Twitter Blue also includes SMS-based two-factor authentication as an added layer of account security. This feature could be crucial for accounts with significant influence or value. However, its availability is subject to the country and telecom provider.

11. Twitter Ads

The CPC when you use Twitter Blue seems to be lower than before. Twitter Blue not only seems to allow the use of Twitter Ads, but it also increases the visibility of the Ads compared to the past. It could be just that the competition in Twitter Ads is lower now that you must pay for the blue badge to be allowed to create paid campaigns.

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