Tag Archives: Social Network

X (formerly Twitter) Unveils New Subscription Tiers: Here’s What You Need to Know

October 30, 2023 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

X, formerly known as Twitter, has introduced a series of changes in the past few months. The social network has introduced a paid tier that includes a verified badge and even changes policies when it comes to disinformation. However, in a move that’s been stirring up quite a buzz, X (formerly Twitter) has introduced fresh subscription tiers, catering to diverse user preferences and needs. Let’s dive into the details.

New Premium+ Tier at USD$16/month & Basic Tier at USD$3/month

It looks like Elon Musk’s X is taking monetization very seriously. The social media is introducing two new paid tiers for users. The first is a Premium+ tier. This USD$16 (RM76.20) monthly subscription not only removes ads from your timeline but also grants you a blue checkmark, offering that coveted mark of authenticity.

we’re also launching a new Basic tier for $3/month (when signing up via Web) that gives you access to the most essential Premium features
— Premium (@premium) October 27, 2023

Premium+ subscribers will also get an algorithmic boost, ensuring your tweets get more attention and replies. It’s essentially a premium experience, perfect for those who want a clutter-free and personalized journey through X.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the Basic tier, priced at just $3 (RM14.29) per month. This tier may not include the coveted blue checkmark, but it offers a plethora of other benefits.

Screenshot 2023 10 30 at 15 20 09 Home X — Source: X (Fromerly Twitter)

Screenshot 2023 10 30 at 15 20 28 Home X — Source: X (Fromerly Twitter)

Basic subscribers can rejoice in features like tweet editing, longer posts, and the ability to download videos. Additionally, you’ll receive a “small reply boost,” helping you engage more effectively with your audience. Plus, you’ll have encrypted direct messaging for added security.

Both Premium+ and Basic tiers are accessible via the web, avoiding fees associated with app stores. This ensures a seamless experience for users looking to enhance their X journey.

Elon Musk has grand ambitions for the platform. He wants to turn X into an “everything app,” directly challenging platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn. While the specifics of this transformation remain shrouded in mystery, X has been teasing new features like video streaming and job postings, hinting at the platform’s evolving nature.

Musk’s ambitions, however misguided they are, look to leverage Twitter’s social media user base to create an app for everything. There are plans to offer comprehensive communications and financial services, potentially replacing traditional bank accounts.

Monetization or Bot Prevention?

In a recent live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk disclosed a plan to charge a small fee to every X user. The main objective is to combat the proliferation of bots on the platform.

Musk emphasized that the cost of operating bots would become prohibitively high, making it challenging for individuals or organizations to sustain them. By requiring users to pay a fee with a unique payment method, X aims to eliminate fake accounts effectively.

While Musk didn’t specify the fee’s exact amount, he highlighted the necessity of this change to thwart the vast armies of bots. This strategic move ensures a cleaner and more authentic X experience for users.

As X transitions into a paid platform, the landscape of social media may undergo significant changes. While the exact implementation date remains uncertain, it’s evident that users may need to adjust to this new paradigm. X, with its 550 million users and 100 to 200 million daily posts, is poised for a transformation that may encourage users to explore alternatives.

News, Social Media

Meet the New Clubhouse Where Social Messaging Meets Voice

September 7, 2023 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Clubhouse, once the talk of Silicon Valley and the darling of pandemic-era social media, is undergoing a transformation. Earlier this year, the company announced layoffs of half its staff as it embarked on creating “Clubhouse 2.0.” Now, the results of this shift are in, and it’s all about making Clubhouse more like a messaging app.

The shift means moving away from its iconic “drop-in” audio conversations to focus on voice chats centred around friends. Instead of large, open rooms for live-streamed discussions, the new Clubhouse encourages users to form groups with people they already know. These groups, somewhat perplexingly named “chats,” enable friends and friends-of-friends to exchange voice messages.

From Forum to Personable Chats

The key feature of this update is “Chats.” Think of Chats as voice-only group chats with your closest friends. They’re asynchronous, so you can drop in and participate at your convenience. It’s like a blend of group texts and Instagram Stories, except with voices.

Chats come with convenient features like push-to-talk, 2x listening speed, skip and swipe between chats, and the option to engage in private voice conversations. What sets them apart from group texting is speed and personalization. Chats are faster, allowing groups to share more, including nuances and off-the-record content, with automatic transcription and translation into your language.

Voice adds a personal touch that text can’t match. You can hear your friends’ emotions, and laughter, and even sense when they’re tired or excited. It’s about getting to know people on a deeper level.

Chats can be set to “friends only” or “friends-of-friends,” creating a cosy social atmosphere with shared context and accountability. No randoms, spammers, or follower seekers here.

Changing from Followers to Friends

Live audio isn’t going away; it remains a core part of Clubhouse. However, Chats offer a versatile tool for community builders, enabling new conversations without the need for extensive preparation or moderation. It’s all about depth over reach.

Clubhouse is also shifting from a “follow” model to a “friend” model. This change emphasizes the importance of real friendships over accumulating followers. Existing followers won’t lose their connections; they can create a House for their followers right from their profiles.

The motivation behind this pivot is clear. Clubhouse witnessed a significant drop in engagement as pandemic restrictions eased. Whether this new direction can bring back the buzz it enjoyed in 2021, when it attracted millions of users and a multi-billion-dollar valuation, remains uncertain. Clubhouse, seemingly aware of the challenges, concluded its announcement with a touch of caution, stating, “It’s a big bet, and we hope we’re right…”

News

Meta’s Threads Gets More Updates & Inches Closer to the Web Browser

August 21, 2023 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Meta launched Threads back in July when the internet was rife with the potential death of Twitter. The social network launched in a very barebones state having the most essential features and literally launching initially only on Android. The social network seems to have lost some of the initial hype but is continuing to introduce more features.

With the launch of broadcast channels on Instagram, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, has been keeping the community abreast of the developments happening at Instagram and on Threads. Since the launch, threads has seen the introduction of many new features the most recent features include the ability to send Threads on Instragram’s DM using share button, the ability to sort the accounts you follow and the ability to add custom alt-text to images.

viralyft NugNGUkkuO8 unsplash — Photo by Viralyft on Unsplash

This week, the app is getting another round of feature additions. This time the updates come in the form of updates to user profiles on Threads. Users will now have a new Reposts tab which shows followers the posts on Threads you have reposted and from whom. In addition, reposts can now be seen in the Following feed. The Following feed, which was introduced about three weeks ago, is a feed exclusively to view updates from profiles you follow on Threads. Similar to the Following feed on Instagram, the feed doesn’t include recommendations from Thread’s algorithm.

The bigger update comes from third party reports. It’s being reported that Meta is gearing up for the launch of the web version of Threads. This is perhaps one of the biggest features being requested by Threads users and the one most sorely lacked by the social network. If you go to Threads.net now, you’ll be greeted by a holding page asking you to download the app on iOS and Android.

However, if these reports are true, the web version is around the corner. In fact, over the weekend, Mosseri, himself, mentioned the web version of the social network. However, he mentioned that the web version is “a little bit too buggy right now…” but continued to tease the release.

nik Dgg7hkWnVvs unsplash — Photo by Nik on Unsplash

According to The Wall Street Journal, people familiar with Meta’s plans indicate that the company plans to launch the web version of the social platform early this week. That information comes with a caveat, though. According to the same sources, these plans are not final and could change.

The web version would be one of the final features to make Threads a viable alternative for X (formerly known as Twitter) and its alternatives like Mastodon and Bluesky. It could also be the one feature that will bring brands, publishers and more users to the platform.

Business, Lifestyle

Your Twitter is Now Your X

July 25, 2023 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Yes, I know, it’s been a long time coming. But, it’s time. Twitter is finally becoming X.

It seems like the writing has been on the wall for a while now with Elon Musk taking over the company last year. However, after what seems to be the most unusually tumultuous buyout ever, the day has finally come – the iconic blue bird logo is being retired for an “X”. The Twitter rebrand exercise was kicked into high gear three months ago with Elon Musk officially replacing the Twitter company with X Corp. [I know it weirdly sounds like LexCorp and we all know what happened with that company in Superman.]

The change has already taken effect with the x.com domain leading to twitter.com. The logo has also been changed to the “X” logo. This comes after Elon Musk tweeted, “And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”. Even the official Twitter account is now an X although its handle is still @Twitter.

So, What Happens Now?

Well, that’s just it, aside from some grandiose words from both Elon Musk and newly instated CEO, Linda Yaccarino, we don’t really know. While Elon Musk has had a long history with the brand, it’s not much to go on. He’s used “X” in many of his other undertakings like SpaceX and xAI. His first startup in 1999 was x.com.

In an internal memo from Yaccarino to Twitter staff published by CNBC, she refers to the rebranding as a second chance for the company once known as Twitter to make a big impression. In the same statement, she highlights that X will be moving at lightspeed with an inventor mindset – “constantly learning, testing out new approaches, changing to get it right and ultimately succeeding.”. This could mean that we’re about to go for a real roller coaster ride with X and what’s coming for the remnants of Twitter.

X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) July 23, 2023

However, if anything, it seems like Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino will be taking Twitter and turning it into a global version of WeChat – a one-stop app for everything or as companies like Grab and AirAsia like to put it a “super-app”. Elon envisions X as the “everything app” and we get a glimpse of the future in the internal memo from Yaccarino, she says that X will “continue to delight our entire community with new experiences in audio, video, messaging, payments, banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities.”

It seems like this is already underway in the U.S. with X Corp filing for the relevant regulatory approvals months ago. That said, it’s an end of an era with Twitter officially being wiped off the face of the living internet. After more than 15 years, one of the most iconic internet companies and platforms has been put down. That said, we don’t know what’s in store for X and X Corp as Elon has hinted at improvements and refinements in the near future.

Business, Lifestyle, News, Social Media

Elon Musk is Acquiring Twitter for US$ 44 Billion -What is Happening?

April 26, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Being rich has a lot of perks. One of them, as the richest man on earth, Elon Musk shows, is simply acquiring companies. His most prominent acquisition so far, that just went through anyway, is Twitter at US$ 44 Billion (MYR 191.333 billion*).

Of course, while this is our first report on Elon Musk’s bid to acquiring Twitter, it is not something that has gone quiet. Elon Musk bought over some Twitter shares a few weeks back and has been bidding to acquire the platform entirely ever since. Why? We do not know.

A few weeks back, with his acquisition of Twitter shares, he also promised that Twitter will soon have an ‘edit post’ button. The ‘edit’ button is something Twitter sorely lacks since its inception. While we would appreciate an ‘edit’ function, we have sort of lived with it. An ‘edit’ button will be nice though.

The acquisition that just went through not too long ago today has more questions surrounding it than answers too. One thing that has already been known with the acquisition is that the current CEO, Parag Agrawal will be leaving the company, though there are no mentions of when that will happen. We also know that Elon Musk is big on “free speech within the bounds of the law”, which is still rather vague but could mean less regulations from Twitter’s end. Elon also says that he wants to make Twitter better with new features and open sourcing the algorithms within Twitter.

What does this mean for Twitter?

Nobody knows, really. When the deal went through, there were plenty of speculations on organisational restructuring. Employees at Twitter are still nervous about their jobs or even compensations if they suddenly become unemployed. So far, there are no mentions on a major restructuring in Twitter yet.

In terms of the Twitter platform itself, you could be seeing the return of multiple names that was banned by Twitter for political correctness and other reasons. We said ‘could’, not ‘will’, so even we are taking that with a pinch of salt for now. Still, in favour of Elon Musk’s “free speech” commitment, we are expecting looser regulations from Twitter and less intervention from the platform in plenty of topics, “fake news” included.

Of course, such high-profile acquisition will attract the attention of Wall Street. That led to a 5% spike of Twitter’s share prices before Wall Street had to stop the trade of Twitter’s stocks. Elon Musk is known to turn many things into gold, and we believe that Twitter’s stocks will continue to increase in value at least for the time being.

The current CEO of Twitter says that there are no planned changes at this time, at least before he leaves. He added though that he is unsure about changers in the future ones the deal closes later this year. The deal is expected to take another six months before Elon fully takes control of Twitter. At least for the next six months, there should not be much in terms of change within and on Twitter as a platform.

*Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.35 as of 26/04/2022 on xe.com

Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Social Media

Now You Can Pin Links in Your Clubhouse Rooms

October 26, 2021 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

No matter what you say or whichever platform you say is better as a social voice chat platform, Clubhouse will still be ranked on top in terms of popularity and utilisation. It is also one of the platforms that consistently innovates in its space, even compared to the likes of Spotify Greenroom, or Facebook’s Live Audio Rooms. That is why, from time to time, Clubhouse introduces a new update that changes the way or expands the way you use clubhouse and interact with your friends on the platform.

With the most recent update, Clubhouse is making it possible for users to share external links. While this does not directly allow on-platform monetisation, it does allow some form of monetisation for plenty of users. For example, users now can pin Patreon links. There is even a possibility of linking Kickstarter and Indiegogo project links to the Clubhouse rooms that users create to talk about their latest projects, or pain points for example. For a lot of content creators, it is now possible to include their YouTube channel links, Podcast links, their own curated website, news portals, and even news articles.

There are of course limitations to what sort of links you can pin on the top of the room. Obviously, porn is frowned upon, so you cannot post links to porn websites to any rooms, even if you are talking about explicit subjects or the likes. Obviously as well, OnlyFans is one of those sites that are banned from Clubhouse link pinning feature.

As far as transactions that happens within the links, Clubhouse claims that they will not be taking any cuts or commissions from them. With that, Clubhouse is saying that they are working on multiple things to allow content creators on the platform to monetise their own contents on the app itself. The feature will be available soon on iOS and Android versions of the app. Clubhouse is available for free on both iOS and Android via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store respectively. For more information on Pinned Links feature on Clubhouse, you can find out more on their blog.

Android, Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Social Media

Clubhouse Coming to Android After More Than a Year in iOS Exclusivity.

May 10, 2021 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

There was a debate that raged on a bit in a certain new and upcoming social media app. The app was valued at US$ 4 Billion (MYR*) at its most recent fundraiser too. That social media platform is Clubhouse, and the debate was whether or not Clubhouse should remain an iOS exclusive platform.

For over a year, Clubhouse has remained exclusive to iOS. That is not without good reason though. Developing on iOS is a little more straightforward because there is not a tonne of scaling to work with, everything is based on roughly the same hardware architecture. You do not have to take different versions of iOS and iPhone devices into account either, the SDK will do its job and standardise experience across all iPhone devices. Obviously, with the amount of Android devices out there for different market segments, things become a little more complex when you want to develop on Android. This was the case of WhatsApp on iOS and Android all over again.

Still, the voice based social network app has been one of the most popular apps since the pandemic broke out and everyone in the world is expected to stay at home and lock themselves up. It gave people another way to stay connected with the rest of the world. It gave way to Elon Musk to connect with other people from other parts of the world without physically meeting them. Elon Musk could be one of the reasons why Clubhouse blew up too.

Still, because Clubhouse was a thing, Android users are now asking for the feature on their devices. Clubhouse also have been reportedly working on its Android app for some time now. Earlier in the year Clubhouse finally announced that they are going to put Clubhouse in Google’s Play Store. This week, they came through in the United States of America (U.S.A.).

The Clubhouse app is now in open Beta state in Google Play Store. While that means you get access to the most basic functions of Clubhouse like joining a chat room and moderate a chat for example, there are still some things that users on Android will not get access to for the time being. For one, Android users will not be able to report someone else for now. That feature will come soon though according to Clubhouse.

Translation and localisation will not yet be available as well on the Android version. Understandably, Clubhouse on Android is still limited to the U.S. and will be rolling out to other English-speaking regions within these few weeks. You cannot create club or manage any clubs at the moment too with the Beta version of Clubhouse on Android. You can read the full list of missing features on Clubhouse’s FAQ page.

The team behind Clubhouse is also noting that they will be collecting feedback from the community on the app. In the coming weeks, the team will be fixing all kinds of bugs and add more features before finally releasing the app properly on Google Play Store as a full app. The only thing that they have not changed their stance on is the invite-only system. You have to be invited into the app to sign up for an account. Signing up for the app is free though.

The Clubhouse app will be available in Beta in the U.S. region for now. As Mentioned the app will roll out in other English-speaking regions soon after. If you are keen to get on the platform with existing invites at hand, you can head over to Google Play Store to register as an interested user and be the first Android user when it becomes available in your region.

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