Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter. PARIS, FRENCH – 16 JUNE … [+]
We are being nickel and dimed to death.
Elon’s recent strategy has been to try to convince us of Twitter’s value, rather than trying to pay for the service.
Recent changes have included putting TweetDeck’s interface behind a paid-for paywall. After 30 days, you must sign up for Twitter Blue. This is essentially a vanity service. You will be charged a monthly subscription fee. It is retiring its classic version as well.
Recently, view caps were also implemented as a solution to server issues. There again, the famous billionaire is nickel and diming because he doesn’t want to pay exorbitant fees to keep Twitter running for everyone without restrictions.
Sadly, we’ve seen this before with companies that seem to be going under.
A good example of this is the electric car charging stations. A downtown charger used to always be available for free while shopping in my locality. The city should have charged for this plug because of its popularity. It’s the opposite. The city charges a fee because no one uses the electric power ups (except for me).
Twitter has the same problem. You would think the company would make brand new features and draw in new users, but instead they’re flocking to other apps and, as the numbers dwindle, the only way to keep the lights on is to start charging for features that were normally free.
The car is the analogy I use. Gouging. A charger has always been free for years because the idea was to get people to shop and stay around. The business model changed because no one was using it. The city will at least be able to make some money if anyone uses it. It must have cost quite a bit to install.
When you gouge your loyal users who are already paying for services, it is a way to exploit them. I’m one of those suckers. Twitter Blue was paid again to allow me to write longer posts on my book about productivity. Now I have second thoughts.
The problem with gouging and other ‘gotchas’ in business is that customers eventually figure it out. Oh, I’m just a Guinea pig for a failing company that is squeezing out a little revenue while they can since no new customers are signing up for the service. Why? Like someone considering an electric car, the business model that suggests you have to pay even more money to use a new product doesn’t exactly motivate you to join everyone else.
What are the real needs of users? Features that are new. New ideas. This app has a sense of newness, as if it’s going to a place that other social media applications haven’t been before. Making something innovative and new. We need a compelling reason to support innovation.
It’s time for Musk to start acting like an entrepreneur again. Give users what they want — something for free that’s You can use this to your advantage. Eventually, if there’s enough value and benefit in the long run, we’ll gladly start paying for it.
Otherwise we’ll just feel like we’re being…used.
