Twitter Blue, the social media giant’s subscription-based service, has failed to reach the desired levels of adoption, prompting Elon Musk to take drastic action. On April 15th, the only tweets that will be displayed in the ‘For You’ tab will be from paying, Twitter Blue verified accounts, while voting in polls will become a Twitter Blue exclusive option. Such a move is likely to limit visibility for non-paying accounts, which could result in a surge of new subscribers for Twitter. 

The main effect of this move by Twitter will be the limitation of visibility for non-paying accounts. That is, regular Twitter users will no longer be able to view tweets from the accounts they follow in the main ‘For You’ tab and will have to head to the ‘Following’ tab instead. Twitter Blue subscribers, however, will have exclusive access to the ‘For You’ tab, as well as gain the ability to vote in Twitter polls, which could make more users opt for the subscription service. 

The focus of this new policy could also limit discussion on certain topics, as only paying users will be able to access the ‘For You’ tab, and these tend to be more aligned with Musk himself. This could lead to a very one-sided discussion in relation to political and world events.

Further, the move to remove ‘legacy’ blue checkmarks could make it harder for non-paying accounts to be noticed, making it even more essential for users to sign up for Twitter Blue in order to remain visible. This could be seen as a way for Twitter to secure more revenue from subscriptions and possibly even give it a boost. 

In conclusion, the changes to Twitter Blue that have been introduced by Musk are likely to have a dramatic effect on the visibility of non-paying accounts while also limiting general user functionality. Twitter hopes that this will lead to an increase in subscribers, resulting in more revenue for the company. However, the main issue with this is that the focus of the ‘For You’ tab may become very restrictive, given that it will be exclusively populated by subscribers aligned with Musk’s own views and ideologies.