Legacy Twitter is gone. Twitter 2.0 is here and rapidly moving forward to encourage everyone to create a free account, and you may be considering a monthly $8 Twitter Blue subscription.  I’ll share 5 new updates and my take on why I think Twitter Blue could be right for you.  

• Freedom of speech is at the core of Twitter 2.0
• Twitter will always make removing child sexual exploitation material the #1 priority
• Community Notes: An excellent way to allow free speech AND correct false information
• Twitter Blue details:  For the avid Twitter user (decide on your profile pic and username first)
• Twitter 2.0 has a strict anti-doxxing policy, designed to protect you and your family

1. FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS AT THE CORE OF TWITTER 2.0

Elon Musk’s Twitter will allow you a place for freedom of speech.  You will have the right to express your opinions without being subjected to censorship because of those opinions. Elon Musk said,

“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.
Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.
You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.” – Elon Musk

2. TWITTER WILL ALWAYS MAKE REMOVING CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION MATERIAL THE #1 PRIORITY

Twitter‘s number one priority, since being owned by Elon Musk, is to remove child exploitation material (CSAM). 

Twitter Rules include zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, Twitter’s website says,

“We have zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation on Twitter. Learn more.”

You may still find these things on Twitter, and the process for reporting them for removal has been made simpler. 

3. COMMUNITY NOTES: AN EXCELLENT WAY TO ALLOW FREE SPEECH AND CORRECT FALSE INFORMATION

You may sign up to participate in Twitter Community Notes.  This is a great way to add context to misleading information on Twitter by leaving notes and/or citing reliable sources.  Twitter states,

“Community Notes aim to create a better informed world by empowering people on Twitter to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading Tweets. Contributors can leave notes on any Tweet and if enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful, the note will be publicly shown on a Tweet.”

4. TWITTER BLUE:  FOR THE AVID TWITTER USER

Twitter Blue is great if you use Twitter often and want to support the platform.  Most notably with Blue you get a blue check. Blue checks can be temporarily removed if you decide to change any part of your username or update your profile picture.  So be sure you are happy with those things BEFORE you click “Subscribe.”

Blue gives you a handy edit button and allows you time to edit tweets and create Folders (I use this a lot). 

The edit button is one of the best things about Twitter Blue. In the example below, “Edit Tweet” gives you 30 minutes to edit the tweet.   A notation appears on the tweet if it has been edited. 

As soon as I paid for Blue, I created multiple FOLDERS (see below) for favorite videos, recipes, education and more.  These folders are private.  Each folder can hold unlimited bookmarked tweets.  If your Twitter Blue subscription lapses and you renew it later, those folders are still there for you when you come back.  

UNDO TWEETS is a feature I don’t use often, and when I need to I am thankful I have it.  You will set a length of time you want to undo tweets before they go public.  You can choose which type of tweets you want to apply this to. In the example below, I set the timing to 20 seconds, and you may opt for up to 1 minute. 

5. TWITTER 2.0 PROTECTS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

Twitter has a strict anti-doxxing policy, as stated here,

“When someone shares an individual’s live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm.
Moving forward, we’ll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone else’s live location will be suspended.” – Twitter

Twiiter makes it clear that you can still share your own live location. Any tweets that share someone else’s historical (not same-day) location information are also not prohibited by the policy. It is also clear that sharing location information related to a public engagement or event, such as a concert or political event, is also permitted. You can read Twitter private information and media policy here.

BONUS: WHAT TWITTER BLUE WILL OFFER SOON: 

Twitter 2.0 is committed to offering more features soon.  These include:

• Rocket to the top of replies, mentions and search with Tweets from verified users being prioritized – helping to fight scams and spam
• See 50% fewer ads than non-subscribers
• You’ll finally be able to post longer videos to Twitter

Twitter Blue $8 is a Limited time offer, as shown in the screenshot above. Be sure to sign up for Blue on the web, or you’ll pay $11.  

Twitter states on its website, “Free Twitter isn’t going away. Twitter Blue simply offers an opt-in layer of customization for your Twitter experience.” 

CONCLUSION

My take is Twitter Blue is fine for anyone who A. Can afford it and B. Wants to support Elon Musk’s efforts to remove CSAM and promote free speech. I think everyone should create a free account, and if you want a challenge, then also apply to participate in Community Notes and report abuses through the Twitter reporting system, especially report any CSAM.

• Twitter 2.0 is a welcome place for you to express yourself. Your views matter!
• Twitter 2.0 has zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, this was not the case with Twitter 1.0
• Twitter 2.0 has Community Notes, which helps simultaneously encourages free speech, and allows for misinformation to be corrected or challenged.
• Twitter Blue now includes the famous blue check and an edit button and all of the legacy benefits from Twitter 1.0
• Twitter 2.0 aims to keep you and your family safe. That’s why it has a strict anti-doxxing policy

I hope you will sign up for your free account and join me on Twitter at @GailAlfarATX

Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Twitter – December 16, 2022. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support the new Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.