I’m sure most of you have heard that Twitter has officially launched its paid verification service today. But let’s take a moment to talk about what it really means and how it works.

As of now, any person can pay $7.99 per month for Twitter Blue. If they pay for Twitter Blue, they get a verification checkmark next to their name, no different than the previously verified account checkmarks.

The problem with this method is that a person doesn’t have to do anything other than pay the $7.99 fee to get the “verified” checkmark.

There was nothing else I needed to do to prove I was who I said I was.

This means it will now be easier to scam unwitting fans by paying for the checkmark on a fake account.

That MAJOR issue aside, what is the point of getting verified?

Well, it gives your tweets, notifications, and replies priority.  Let me show you what I mean. Rachel Starr tweeted good morning.

Tons of people replied. But whose reply is up top? Mine. Because I’m verified.

If two verified people reply to a tweet, it ranks them above all other replies, but who will be first? The verified account with the most followers will win out.

As far as everyone else goes who has previously had their account verified the old-fashioned way, Elon Musk has said that will go away within a few months. So in the future, only those who pay to play will get verification.

To subscribe to Twitter Blue, you must do so through the app. It won’t work through the web interface on Twitter. It also is only available for those with iPhones. It’s currently not available for android users.

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