Category: Twitter Subscriptions

Image Credit Deborah on Twitter See @dvorahfr

From Thirst Pictures to Voice Tweets: Twitter Unleashes Creative Features

Gail AlfarLeave a comment

(Austin, Texas) While brewing hot coffee in the morning, I have an old habit of listening to newsradio.  Today, NPR (haha, I’m not endorsing NPR) proudly announced that “Elon Musk, American Billionaire” would interview Ron DeSantis today and DeSantis would announce his run for presidency on Twitter.  NPR bantered back and forth a bit, in the expected way, but there was no denying that they are intensely curious how this will go. I am confident that it will go great! 

In this article, I’ll highlight a range of Twitter improvements already here and on the way, from content quality and verification measures to exciting future developments in audio/video. Twitter continues to get better, offering you a unique space to engage and express yourself, whether you’re a gardener or a politician. 

PREVENTING AI MANIPULATION

This week, talking in an interview with the WSJ, Elon Musk underscored the importance of Subscriber Verification in combating AI-driven manipulation of public opinion on social media. 

He outlined the requirements to create a verified account, including a credible phone number from a reputable carrier, a credit card, and a small monthly payment. These safeguards aim to prevent the proliferation of fake accounts and ensure the integrity of information shared on the platform. Elon stressed that social media companies that fail to implement such verification measures would be overwhelmed by bots, undermining trust in their platforms.

MIKE SOLANA’S ENGAGING AUDIO INTERVIEW AND TWITTER’S VIDEO CONTROLS

Mike Solana’s captivating audio interview with artist Grimes, shared on Twitter, demonstrated the platform’s potential for podcast-style content. 

I listened to the interview and loved the integration of soundwaves and easy-to-read captions by Solana. Twitter’s ongoing rapid deployment of quality features continues to amaze me. 

ALGORITHMIC PREFERENCE AND THE RISE OF SUBSCRIPTIONS

Twitter’s algorithm prioritizes posts with the highest cumulative user-seconds, placing native content at the forefront and favoring it over external links. This makes sense, as you may notice, people rarely like to click on links that take them off the Twitter App.  

Author Tim Urban shared what he likes about subscriptions.  For Urban, they create a more casual and authentic space reminiscent of texting among friends. Tim (as of 5/24/23) subscribes to a great mix of people! Among them Liv Boree, Mike Solana, Billy Markus, Rainmaker, and A. James McKarthy.  

As of now, you can see who others subscribe to, which I find to be very helpful when looking for accounts I might also subscribe to. 

THIRST PICS AND VOICE TWEETS 

Twitter designer Andrea Conway urged users to share thirst pictures which are delightful gems often found on Instagram, to enhance visual appeal on the platform. Additionally, Conway encouraged the use of voice tweets, and did one of her own to showcase their potential to add a personal touch to interactions. I created a short voice tweet and was pleasantly surprised when Conway herself commented on my voice, saying “you have the most wonderful voice!!!!” Maybe we should all voice tweet more?

ENGINEERING UPDATE: PUSHSERVICE AND TWEETYPIE ENHANCEMENTS

Twitter’s engineering team highlights Pushservice as the primary recommendation service for surfacing relevant content through notifications. This service fetches candidates from multiple sources, ranks them based on relevance, and applies filters to deliver the best recommendations to users. 

Twitter also focuses on Tweetypie, the core tweet service responsible for handling the reading and writing of tweet data, ensuring a seamless user experience.

HOW WILL TWITTER EXPAND AND IMPROVE?

Twitter is the best place today for an electronic digital town square with maximum free speech,  expression, engagement, and the exchange of diverse perspectives. 

As the Bird App continues to thrive, it invites talented individuals to join the team and contribute to its success. Twitter’s no-nonsense careers page is simply a textured white background with the careers email address: careers@twitter.com. If you are interested in working for the bird app, that is the email to reach out to. 

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Article by @GailAlfarATX please credit accordingly. Thank you for reading, sharing & subscribing if you can!  Image credit Dedorah. Referenced in this article are Elon Musk, Twitter Engineering, Tim Urban, Liv Boree, Mike Solana, Billy Markus, Rainmaker, and A. James McCarthy.  

1 day closer to AGI. Image credit @SmokeAwayyy on Twitter

Twitter is the Place to Be.

Gail AlfarLeave a comment
1 day closer to AGI, Image credit @SmokeAwayyy on Twitter

I have a lot of great news about Twitter (now legally known as X.corp on paper) to share with you this week.  The vibe on Twitter is energizing, happy, and powerful.  No other social media has as many positive changes and potential benefits for users on the web.  

What is new this week?  Subscriptions Have Opened Up to Include Millions of Accounts!

A fabulous program that will benefit many people was revealed around lunchtime on April 13th. 

Twitter users with at least 500 followers can, free of charge, apply to offer their followers a way to thank them for their efforts by simply activating “Subscriptions” for their account.  Previously, a user needed to have 10,000 followers.  

My take on this is that there are many accounts that provide valuable information daily and there are appreciative people who may like to Subscribe to them to show support.  

I’ll use my account as an example.  I use Twitter to share the articles I write for WhatsUpTesla and WhatsUpTwitter. I also use Twitter daily to share my enthusiasm for Tesla, Tesla AI, and Twitter 2.0.  The reason I offer Subscriptions on my account is mainly to allow a few of my followers to show appreciation for my efforts and to support this blog (Twitter Subscriptions is the main way I receive any currency to pay for part of the costs of the two publications I operate). Honestly, most of the content I exclusively provide for my followers are creative “Thank You” tweets and an occasional special article.  I am extremely grateful for this support and it means a lot to me.  

So if you are active on Twitter as a writer, artist or even a talented shitposter, I encourage you to go to “Monetization” in settings and activate Subscriptions. There are a few more details that make this an irresistible opportunity:

  • You’ll be able to offer your followers both longform text and hours long video.
  • Twitter will help promote your work.
  • At any point, you may leave Twitter and take your work with you, there’s no obligation or contract to stay.
  • Twitter generously agreed that (until April 2023), all profits will go to you. 

That last perk is HUGE for people who are already known creators (artists, writers, YouTubers, etc, etc), as it gives them an opportunity to prosper while being creative in their own way.  

I like being able to show appreciation to a few other people I know on Twitter.  I like being able to Subscribe to them because it shows I support them. One account I subscribe to, for example, gives all the proceeds to an organization that helps the homeless. The Providence House in Shreveport, Louisiana is a nonprofit that helped my friend Johnna Crider and her mother. When Johnna was only age 9-12 she formed good memories and relationships that last to this day because of the people at Providence House.  If you want to subscribe to Johnna you’ll also see her beautiful private tweets.  

There are also, in my opinion, going to be many people who, may want to Subscribe to someone they really like (examples might be Mr. Beast, and Marques Brownlee) and my hope is that citizen journalists will activate subscriptions.  

CONCLUSION

As you can see, there are many ways people are already being creative using the Subscription feature!  Here are some accounts I recommend trying out a Twitter subscription to:

Johnna Crider @JohnnaCrider1 (kind & thoughtful tweets with a saxophone flare and money goes to good use)

Elon Musk @elonmusk1 (who can resist?)

Shibetoshi Nakamoto @BillyM2k (best shitposter on Twitter)

Me @gailalfaratx (I had to put this here, haha)

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” ― Ashley Smith
“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” ― Ashley Smith (image courtesy @dvorahfr on Twitter)

Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Twitter – April 14, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 (X.corp) and Elon Musk in both making lives better on Earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. I write these articles, I will not use AI of any form to write them, they are time-consuming and I appreciate the opportunity to do this.