Paying to be verified on Instagram and Twitter: Is it worth it? 

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta will now offer a subscription service, charging people to be verified on Instagram and Facebook. This update is in line with Elon Musk’s redesigned “Twitter Blue,” which was unveiled in November 2022. 

Musk made the once-free blue check mark available to anyone who paid a monthly fee, but had to relaunch the service in December because of a flood of users impersonating companies and celebrities — the very problem the check mark was intended to fix. 

Twitter Blue costs $8 per month or $84 per year. The monthly subscription service Meta Verified (Facebook, Instagram) costs $11.99 for the web version and $14.99 for iOS and Android. It is currently available only to individuals, but it intends to expand the service to include businesses.

So what do you get? 

In addition to the blue check badge on your account, Twitter Blue includes Bookmark folders (a way to organize your bookmarked tweets by placing them in folders), Reader (an enhanced experience for reading tweet threads), Top Articles (a view that prioritizes popular tweets and articles from accounts you follow) and an undo tweet option. So far, these have been well-received and make the service worth the subscription price. 

Twitter Blue offers custom navigation, custom app icons, and app color themes for app interface personalization. You’ll also have early access to Twitter Blue Labs features, many of which aren’t yet available. They include the ability to edit tweets, upload higher resolution and longer videos, and add an NFT profile picture to your Twitter profile.

Meta’s version has only been available for a few days, so the jury is still out. But the company’s official announcement about the new subscription service remains focused on the security of accounts, rather than the suite of added exclusive features that Twitter Blue promises. 

The Upshot: Twitter Blue is worth it, but hold off on Meta Verified for now, especially while it is only available to individuals.   

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