Twitter Blue: Top 5 business reasons to subscribe

3 years ago 330

If you tweet often oregon trust connected Twitter for quality and research, Andy Wolber thinks that a subscription to Twitter Blue offers fantabulous value.

Photo of manus holding iPhone with Twitter Blue Feature settings surface displayed (Undo Tweet, Reader, Theme, App icon, Custom navigation, Labs)

In aboriginal November 2021, Twitter Blue launched successful the U.S. and New Zealand, pursuing the service's mid-year debut successful Australia and Canada. For astir the terms of a latte ($2.99 per period successful the U.S.), Twitter Blue enhances speechmaking and redeeming tweets, gives subscribers interface customization options, and includes an Undo tweet fastener to assistance you drawback typos. However, enactment that arsenic the work rolls out, Twitter Blue features vary crossed Twitter connected iOS, Android and Twitter.com.

Social media professionals and avid Twitter users volition apt find the 5 features highlighted beneath worthy the cost, since the features tin assistance you not lone trim errors, but besides streamline your usage of the app.

1. You tin undo tweets

Twitter Blue subscribers summation entree to an Undo button, but the enactment mightiness much accurately beryllium identified arsenic a clip hold earlier you tweet. Subscribers whitethorn acceptable a hold of 5, 10, 20, 30 oregon 60 seconds, arsenic good arsenic prime whether that hold applies to archetypal tweets oregon Replies (Figure A, left). During the delay, your tweet displays connected screen, on with Send Now and Undo options (Figure A, right). This gives you the accidental to reappraisal it and to drawback immoderate typos oregon errors. Select Send Now to extremity the hold countdown and tweet immediately.

Figure A

Left, shows toggles for which Tweets to hold (Original Tweets, Replies, Threads, Quote Tweets, Poll Tweets, View Tweet aft sending) and the Undo Tweet timing option, acceptable to 30 seconds. Right, shows a draught Tweet, with Uploading… beneath it, and the Send present and Undo buttons displayed.

2. You tin customize navigation

Subscribers who usage Twitter connected iOS whitethorn prime up to 5 navigation buttons to show on with the Home fastener for accelerated entree to Twitter features. In the Twitter iPhone app arsenic of mid-November 2021, disposable options include: Explore, Spaces, Communities, Notifications, Messages, Bookmarks, Lists, Profile, Top Articles and Monetization (Figure B). While the quality betwixt 2 taps (i.e., pat to show a menu, past pat an enactment from that menu) and 1 pat (i.e., pat straight connected an option) is precisely 1 tap, the customized navigation enactment ensures one-tap entree to Twitter features important to you.

Figure B

Two screenshots from the iOS app. Home fastener is ever selected. (left) Customize navigation surface with default settings of Explore, Spaces, Communities, Notifications, Messages. (right) Customize navigation surface with Explore, Notifications, Top Articles, Bookmarks and Lists selected.

3. You tin usage the Thread Reader

Twitter made it imaginable to constitute threads—a series of aggregate tweets intended to beryllium work successful sequence—a portion ago. Now, Twitter Blue makes it easier to work threads. The View Thread successful Reader fastener hides metadata (e.g., date/time of tweet) and enactment icons (e.g., Reply, Like, Retweet, Share and the More menu). The thread displays successful the Reader with a subtle horizontal enactment betwixt each tweet (Figure C).

Figure C

(left) Two tweets, with dates, times, and reply, retweet, like, and stock buttons displayed, on with a "View thread successful Reader" button. (right) Text, video, and links, displayed, with astir metadata and actions hidden.

4. You tin spot the Top Articles

Top Articles displays a database of the most-shared articles by radical you travel implicit the past 24 hours, arsenic shown successful Figure D. In Twitter.com connected the web, for example, Top Articles shows 25 tweets, each followed by a Read Article fastener and substance to bespeak however galore radical had tweeted the article. (For those of you who were fans of Nuzzel, this diagnostic volition look familiar. Here's hoping that Twitter provides akin capabilities for Twitter Lists, on with the quality to set the clip period.)

Figure D

(left) iOS app shows icons of radical beneath an article, with text, e.g., 3 radical Tweeted; (right) Web adds a "Read Article" fastener and, erstwhile a Top Article is selected, displays the Tweets (in a file to the right) that shared the article.

5. You tin can enactment bookmarks successful folders

Bookmark folders (Figure E) marque it imaginable to signifier tweets you privation to notation to later. Previously, each bookmark ended up successful a azygous agelong list. With folders, erstwhile you bookmark a tweet, the strategy displays an Add to Folder prompt. You don't person to spot bookmarks successful folders, but it is simply a bully convenience to beryllium capable to radical bookmarked tweets. For example, I thin to bookmark tweets with quality links and probe reports, arsenic good arsenic tweets related to imaginable nonfiction topics. With folders, I tin store these tweets separately.

Figure E

(left) Tweet with a "Bookmark saved" substance and "Add to folder" fastener successful an overlay connected a Tweet that has been saved, (right) Folder selector prompt, titled "Add to Folder", with 2 folders (Research & Reports, Writing topics) displayed, with a + successful the precocious close (to adhd a caller folder).

Additional Twitter Blue benefits

Subscribers besides summation a fewer different speechmaking and show features. Several large publishers person partnered with Twitter to region nonfiction ads for Twitter Blue subscribers. These articles are labeled with Ad-free with Twitter Blue indicator text. Additionally, subscribers whitethorn prime from a acceptable of customized app themes and icon colors.

Twitter Blue subscribers besides person the accidental to research features that Twitter is testing. Two labs features disposable astatine motorboat see the quality to pin conversations and upload longer videos. On iOS, swipe from near to close connected a Twitter messaging conversation, past pat the pin to support the speech astatine the apical of the messages screen. And, with Twitter from a web browser connected a computer, upload videos up to 10 minutes long, alternatively of the modular 140 2nd (or, 2 minutes and 20 seconds) magnitude limit.

What's your instrumentality connected Twitter Blue?

I subscribed to Twitter Blue instantly erstwhile it became available. I usage Twitter much than an hr each time for news, enactment and general-interest reading. For me, the customized navigation (yes, I added Top Articles, Bookmarks and Lists to my bottommost navigation bar), and the hold to reappraisal earlier tweeting are useful.

If you usage Twitter and are successful a information of the satellite wherever Twitter Blue is available, person you subscribed? Why oregon wherefore not? If you usage Twitter Blue for work, which features bash you find astir helpful? Let maine cognize your thoughts astir Twitter Blue, either successful the comments below, or, much appropriately, connected Twitter (@awolber).

Google Weekly Newsletter

Learn however to get the astir retired of Google Docs, Google Cloud Platform, Google Apps, Chrome OS, and each the different Google products utilized successful concern environments. Delivered Fridays