Women using social media app microblogging on their smartphone
How much would you pay to use social media if you didn’t have to look at ads?
This is an important question to ask yourself right now.
A report from Engadget theorized that the social media app formerly known as Twitter (now called X) could offer three different “tiers” of subscription for those who hate advertising. Bloomberg reported that an X user had scoured some iOS code.
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The code appears to reveal three different payment plans, Basic, Standard or Plus. No one knew how much the plans would cost. The main thing was to show all the ads. The standard showed about 50% fewer ads. And Plus didn’t display any ads.
Meta continues to mull the idea of charging European Facebook users a monthly fee (possibly up to $14) to sidestep legal concerns about private data collection.
My take on all of this: We’re not exactly talking about Netflix in terms of value here. Social media companies are doing a poor job of providing extras and perks that make a monthly subscription worth it.
Twitter and Facebook’s business models are based on keeping things as similar as possible. This makes us flow without thinking.
Here’s what I mean by that:
Introducing new features makes sense for Apple or Samsung when they release new phones, because that way we’re more likely to upgrade. New social media features are counterintuitive. This is the ultimate goal. You can also consult other posts on our blog.Introduce something new and innovative. Not only does it interest us, but advertisers also like it. We may decide to use new features if there is some real benefit. We could come out of our trance and do something useful and productive, which means we won’t watch ads as much. It should be a slogfest with no real value.
Over the past few years, I’ve noticed more and more Facebook ads appearing in my feed, likely due to increased targeting. Facebook puts me in a category where I am more likely to be exposed to advertising when I interact with any content. Facebook has fewer friends posting these days. This means more ads. It’s the content that matters, not the value or purpose.
X, on the other hand, continues to experience a loss of advertisers. Now it’s looking for ways to increase revenue. The situation is becoming increasingly dire, according to Reuters, because every month since Elon Musk took the helm, advertising has steadily declined.
The only way to make money is to charge for services.
How much will it cost? I imagine the X Plus subscription plan could cost around $16 per month, or double the current X Premium fee of $8 per month. It’s unclear what this actually means beyond not seeing ads, because there are few extra features available. I’ve mentioned this many times now, but social media apps need to start offering more value and incentives. They could succeed if the apps could offer something worth paying for.
I guess until then most people will just accept the hype.
We’ve been doing this for a decade now… and counting.
