Twitter Blue subscription service now live - but it's missing a crucial feature

Twitter is ramping up its monetization plans with a subscription service called Twitter Blue, which is now live in Australia and Canada.

With TipJar and Ticketed Spaces already announced, the company has been looking at ways to move on from having ads as its main income stream.

Subscription services, even with third-party Twitter apps, have turned out to be very lucrative for developers, offering their users the opportunity to access exclusive features that can set their app apart from others.

Now that Twitter is about to rollout Blue to two countries, there’s a multitude of features that many will welcome, but there are some glaring omissions as well.

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What’s in Twitter Blue?

Prolific app researcher Jess Manchun Wong detailed the features of what Twitter Blue contains in a Tweet (shown below), as she was the first subscriber to the service. These are:

• Ability to turn threads into a reader mode
• Undo tweet when sent
• Organize favourite tweets into a collection section
• Up to six color themes
• Up to eight custom app icons

All of these are useful enough, especially if you’re a heavy Twitter user, but one glaring omission here is the lack of hiding ads from your timeline.

In a blog post, the company have detailed the features further, showcasing their uses and how having bookmarked tweets and undo tweets can help benefit you as you're scrolling through your feed.

These days, there’s a variety of sponsored tweets from companies trying to get you to buy their products, and even users, trying to showcase their reasons for why you should follow them.

In other apps with subscriptions, such as YouTube Premium, ads are omitted, so you’re not stopped in your tracks with a 20-second advertisement. However, with Twitter Blue yet to be rolled out to the masses, there’s always the possibility that this could appear later on.

How much is it?

It’s being priced at CA$3.49 / AU$4.49, with apparent plans for a further tier that will have even more features, but details of this are yet to be uncovered.

As the subscription service is now official, time will tell whether users will take up the offer of a variety of features that’s already available on other Twitter apps such as Twitteriffic and Tweetbot.

However, with Twitter Blue not being completely advert-free, it may be a slow burner to many heavy users who scroll through sponsored tweets every day. 

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