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Stephen King’s tweet on that topic, to summarize: “ $20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like En

Stephen King’s tweet on that topic, to summarize: “ $20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.” https://twitter.com/stephenking/status/1587042605627490304?s=46&t=G0n-uTzWc5CCKs89mzeNkg https://twitter.com/stephenking/status/1587042605627490304?s...

bufferoverflow 4y ago
He is bluffing.
- bandyaboot 4y ago
  Are you saying he won’t leave or that he will accept paying money to Elon Musk for his checkmark?
  - bufferoverflow 4y ago
    He won't leave. Not sure if he cares about the blue checkmark enough to pay, but he is rich enough not to care. His net worth is half a billion.
    - mateuszf 4y ago
      I don't think anybody believes he cares about the money. Seems like it's a matter of principles for him.
    - blaser-waffle 4y ago
      His publicist will care, and they probably charge him way, way more per month than $20. SK will hem and haw but 6 months from now his team will quietly reinstate the account.
slimebot80 4y ago
Totally right. And Musk's answer was to offer $8/m King wasn't talking about paying anything
- monksy 4y ago
  He's trying to anchor it and make the situation look better so it's "more reasonable." Realistically.. is it worth more than 4$ a month? Probably not. Why would you pay 8 for that?
memish 4y ago
The idea that someone who is addicted to Twitter and worth $500M would leave because they lose their special Blue Check over $20 is hilarious. He's just butt hurt because the VIP room and symbol is being opened to the proles. Now any schlub with $8 can have the once exclusive symbol.
- oneeyedpigeon 4y ago
  Stephen King is addicted to Twitter? He's posted an average of 2-3 tweets per day — I wouldn't call that addicted.
  - prmoustache 4y ago
    That is quite a lot.
    - gonzo41 4y ago
      Not for someone who's fulltime job is writing and reading fiction.
    - oneeyedpigeon 4y ago
      It's quite a lot, but I wouldn't put it in the realms of addiction. It seems to be quite typical compared to even the personal (i.e. non famous) people I'm following; the higher profile accounts I follow tweet multiples of tens per day.
    - acjohnson55 4y ago
      It's really not
    - paxys 4y ago
      Writing 3 lines of text a day is a lot for a professional writer?
  - IncRnd 4y ago
    I would.
ekianjo 4y ago
As if King cant pay 20 dollars.
- dmix 4y ago
  Everyone seems to either be assuming King somehow cares about paying $$ instead of making a political statement and/or Elon was making a serious earnest reply to King, instead of being his usual needling shitposter self. Neither of which both of their histories supports. Stephen King will quit Twitter just as credibly as Jay-z “retired” from rapping.... like Elon Musk gives a shit about convincing a person worth $500M+ that $20 vs $8/m is too much to ask.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    I'm sure there's politics involved in the fact that King is the first person we're seeing in this public argument with Musk, but the dynamic he's talking about is apolitical and pretty obvious. For true celebrities, of which King is obviously one, Twitter needs them more than they need Twitter. Twitter should pay them to use the platform. Nobody has ever bought a copy of Carrie because they saw the blue checkmark next to Stephen King's name.
    - dmix 4y ago
      Indeed I agree. Musk hasn't addressed how he will compensate or at least incentive creators yet. Having a mainline stream of subscriptions certainly provides more avenues for such a thing. So personally I think the compensation or promotional quid pro quo deals are a very different animal than checkmarks. Unless it means multiple tiers of checkmarks.
  - watwut 4y ago
    Stephen King does not live from tweeting.
- paxys 4y ago
  As if Elon needs 20 dollars.
CivBase 4y ago
> they should pay me ...why? As someone who doesn't use Twitter, remarks like this have left me very confused. Clearly these people found Twitter valuable before. Does not having the checkmark make it less valuable? Is there an alternative service that provides similar value? The blue checkmark is a service. Now they want money to continue that service. If you don't want it, don't pay for it. Leaving over concerns about Elon's vision for the platform makes sense, but I really don't get leaving over the checkmark subscription.
- jmyeet 4y ago
  > ...why? Because the content on Twitter is generated by a relatively small number of users. A lot never tweet, quote tweet or retweet but it goes beyond that number once you weight it by audience. A small number of people have a large amount of reach and thus are responsible for a good chunk of the content. That content is why the users are on Twitter and it is those users who are advertised to that pay for Twitter to exist. That's what Stephen King means. Now you can turn this around and say that those power users are only there because the audience is and that they get value for being there but platforms need users and users follow creators more than the platform as a general rule.
  - CivBase 4y ago
    Maybe I have a fundamental misunderstanding of what compels people to use Twitter. I thought the few people in question use Twitter as a convenient tool to communicate with wide audiences (i.e. marketing) and the rest are mostly especially dedicated followers who want to be marketed to. Are there actually people who primarily use Twitter for "content"? Are the blue checkmark people (i.e. celebrities) even the ones generating that content? The content for billboards is also "generated by a relatively small number of users", but those users still have to pay to use them. I've always seen Twitter as a personal billboard, and a checkmark as a coveted signal booster. But maybe that's wrong?
    - mattkrause 4y ago
      I’m a research scientist and mostly use it to keep up with people working in similar fields. There’s certainly some marketing (“Check out our new paper”, “My lab is hiring”, etc), but it’s not particularly top-down; everybody does it to some extent. It’s also mixed in with actual scientific discussion, lab “hacks”, and some silly banter/blowing off steam. All in all, it’s been pretty helpful for me careerwise. I think I’ve gotten more useful advice about grant writing and papers to read than many more formal mentorship arrangements. There are a few “blue checks”, but they’re mostly a) early adopters or b) people with some kind of public presence. As far as I can tell, neither I nor most others care about the checkmark per se. I talked about my research (twice!) with John Carmack and it was cool to know that it was really the Doom Guy, but I think I probably would have engaged with anybody equally curious about my work.
incompatible 4y ago
Twitter may lose one Stephen King, but presumably now anybody with the same name can get the blue check. All those $8 per month will add up.
- MivLives 4y ago
  So Twitter's monetization system is basically going to work the same way domains do with squatters?
samatman 4y ago
Reminds me of all the people who swear up and down they're moving to Canada or Europe after the latest disappointment in the voting booth. They never do. Musk may or may not charge his $20, but King will pay it if he does, he's bluffing.
- watwut 4y ago
  Tho, big difference is that moving to Canada is huge effort and risk. Many people doing that would be mass migration and Canada would try to stop it. Meanwhile, platform dying cause people left is something that happened many times already. Usually they don't leave with one bang and they won't here. It happens over months slowly.
SyneRyder 4y ago
I nearly missed Elon's follow up tweet on the $8/month: "This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators" https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587505731611262976 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587505731611262976 So I guess they are actually planning to pay Stephen King after all, if he stays Twitter Blue. (Presumably his share of the money would be more than $8/month.) How they distribute the money will be key. Would it be based on generic follower counts & likes & engagement - which will surely drive massive waves of spambot activity - or will each user's $8/month be distributed to the accounts they follow, almost Patreon or Flattr style? That might actually be interesting.
Tomte 4y ago
After Elon replied, a user came up with this gem: "Only on Twitter can we watch a man worth $200 billion negotiate with a man worth $500 million about saving $12 a month"
philwelch 4y ago
Honestly, Stephen King probably loses more brand equity than that just from what he posts on Twitter. It’s gotten to the point where I actively avoid following any writers or creative types on Twitter just to avoid my perception of their work being colored by how they conduct themselves on Twitter.

bufferoverflow 4y ago

He is bluffing.

bandyaboot 4y ago
Are you saying he won’t leave or that he will accept paying money to Elon Musk for his checkmark?
- bufferoverflow 4y ago
  He won't leave. Not sure if he cares about the blue checkmark enough to pay, but he is rich enough not to care. His net worth is half a billion.
  - mateuszf 4y ago
    I don't think anybody believes he cares about the money. Seems like it's a matter of principles for him.
  - blaser-waffle 4y ago
    His publicist will care, and they probably charge him way, way more per month than $20. SK will hem and haw but 6 months from now his team will quietly reinstate the account.

slimebot80 4y ago

Totally right. And Musk's answer was to offer $8/m King wasn't talking about paying anything

monksy 4y ago
He's trying to anchor it and make the situation look better so it's "more reasonable." Realistically.. is it worth more than 4$ a month? Probably not. Why would you pay 8 for that?

memish 4y ago

The idea that someone who is addicted to Twitter and worth $500M would leave because they lose their special Blue Check over $20 is hilarious. He's just butt hurt because the VIP room and symbol is being opened to the proles. Now any schlub with $8 can have the once exclusive symbol.

oneeyedpigeon 4y ago
Stephen King is addicted to Twitter? He's posted an average of 2-3 tweets per day — I wouldn't call that addicted.
- prmoustache 4y ago
  That is quite a lot.
  - gonzo41 4y ago
    Not for someone who's fulltime job is writing and reading fiction.
  - oneeyedpigeon 4y ago
    It's quite a lot, but I wouldn't put it in the realms of addiction. It seems to be quite typical compared to even the personal (i.e. non famous) people I'm following; the higher profile accounts I follow tweet multiples of tens per day.
  - acjohnson55 4y ago
    It's really not
  - paxys 4y ago
    Writing 3 lines of text a day is a lot for a professional writer?
- IncRnd 4y ago
  I would.

ekianjo 4y ago

As if King cant pay 20 dollars.

dmix 4y ago
Everyone seems to either be assuming King somehow cares about paying $$ instead of making a political statement and/or Elon was making a serious earnest reply to King, instead of being his usual needling shitposter self. Neither of which both of their histories supports. Stephen King will quit Twitter just as credibly as Jay-z “retired” from rapping.... like Elon Musk gives a shit about convincing a person worth $500M+ that $20 vs $8/m is too much to ask.
- tptacek 4y ago
  I'm sure there's politics involved in the fact that King is the first person we're seeing in this public argument with Musk, but the dynamic he's talking about is apolitical and pretty obvious. For true celebrities, of which King is obviously one, Twitter needs them more than they need Twitter. Twitter should pay them to use the platform. Nobody has ever bought a copy of Carrie because they saw the blue checkmark next to Stephen King's name.
  - dmix 4y ago
    Indeed I agree. Musk hasn't addressed how he will compensate or at least incentive creators yet. Having a mainline stream of subscriptions certainly provides more avenues for such a thing. So personally I think the compensation or promotional quid pro quo deals are a very different animal than checkmarks. Unless it means multiple tiers of checkmarks.
- watwut 4y ago
  Stephen King does not live from tweeting.
paxys 4y ago
As if Elon needs 20 dollars.

CivBase 4y ago

> they should pay me ...why? As someone who doesn't use Twitter, remarks like this have left me very confused. Clearly these people found Twitter valuable before. Does not having the checkmark make it less valuable? Is there an alternative service that provides similar value? The blue checkmark is a service. Now they want money to continue that service. If you don't want it, don't pay for it. Leaving over concerns about Elon's vision for the platform makes sense, but I really don't get leaving over the checkmark subscription.

jmyeet 4y ago
> ...why? Because the content on Twitter is generated by a relatively small number of users. A lot never tweet, quote tweet or retweet but it goes beyond that number once you weight it by audience. A small number of people have a large amount of reach and thus are responsible for a good chunk of the content. That content is why the users are on Twitter and it is those users who are advertised to that pay for Twitter to exist. That's what Stephen King means. Now you can turn this around and say that those power users are only there because the audience is and that they get value for being there but platforms need users and users follow creators more than the platform as a general rule.
- CivBase 4y ago
  Maybe I have a fundamental misunderstanding of what compels people to use Twitter. I thought the few people in question use Twitter as a convenient tool to communicate with wide audiences (i.e. marketing) and the rest are mostly especially dedicated followers who want to be marketed to. Are there actually people who primarily use Twitter for "content"? Are the blue checkmark people (i.e. celebrities) even the ones generating that content? The content for billboards is also "generated by a relatively small number of users", but those users still have to pay to use them. I've always seen Twitter as a personal billboard, and a checkmark as a coveted signal booster. But maybe that's wrong?
  - mattkrause 4y ago
    I’m a research scientist and mostly use it to keep up with people working in similar fields. There’s certainly some marketing (“Check out our new paper”, “My lab is hiring”, etc), but it’s not particularly top-down; everybody does it to some extent. It’s also mixed in with actual scientific discussion, lab “hacks”, and some silly banter/blowing off steam. All in all, it’s been pretty helpful for me careerwise. I think I’ve gotten more useful advice about grant writing and papers to read than many more formal mentorship arrangements. There are a few “blue checks”, but they’re mostly a) early adopters or b) people with some kind of public presence. As far as I can tell, neither I nor most others care about the checkmark per se. I talked about my research (twice!) with John Carmack and it was cool to know that it was really the Doom Guy, but I think I probably would have engaged with anybody equally curious about my work.

incompatible 4y ago

Twitter may lose one Stephen King, but presumably now anybody with the same name can get the blue check. All those $8 per month will add up.

MivLives 4y ago
So Twitter's monetization system is basically going to work the same way domains do with squatters?

samatman 4y ago

Reminds me of all the people who swear up and down they're moving to Canada or Europe after the latest disappointment in the voting booth. They never do. Musk may or may not charge his $20, but King will pay it if he does, he's bluffing.

watwut 4y ago
Tho, big difference is that moving to Canada is huge effort and risk. Many people doing that would be mass migration and Canada would try to stop it. Meanwhile, platform dying cause people left is something that happened many times already. Usually they don't leave with one bang and they won't here. It happens over months slowly.

SyneRyder 4y ago

I nearly missed Elon's follow up tweet on the $8/month: "This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators" https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587505731611262976 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587505731611262976 So I guess they are actually planning to pay Stephen King after all, if he stays Twitter Blue. (Presumably his share of the money would be more than $8/month.) How they distribute the money will be key. Would it be based on generic follower counts & likes & engagement - which will surely drive massive waves of spambot activity - or will each user's $8/month be distributed to the accounts they follow, almost Patreon or Flattr style? That might actually be interesting.

Tomte 4y ago

After Elon replied, a user came up with this gem: "Only on Twitter can we watch a man worth $200 billion negotiate with a man worth $500 million about saving $12 a month"

philwelch 4y ago

Honestly, Stephen King probably loses more brand equity than that just from what he posts on Twitter. It’s gotten to the point where I actively avoid following any writers or creative types on Twitter just to avoid my perception of their work being colored by how they conduct themselves on Twitter.