Twitter’s Subscription Business Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, announced today that the firm cannot be sustained only by advertising and tweeted information regarding its subscription plans. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/elon-musk-announces-11-monthly-charge-for-verified-twitter-accounts In essence, this is a fairly standard business question. which is “how to collect more money from users who might be willing to pay more”. However, it seems to be a hotly debated subject that has attracted absurd amounts of hatred on Twitter (and a few thousand new followers overnight). Commenting on this subject automatically inserts you into discussions about elitism and prejudice against journalists. It’s a lovely mix. Really. I’m far more interested in leaving that emotion aside and focusing on the business rationale of charging Twitter users $8 a month to be “verified” and for other features, like seeing fewer ads. Many commentators have pointed out that this subscription tier isn’t likely to net Twitter much money. There are 423,700 users verified currently. If they all paid, that would be $41 million...