Elon Musk has put an end to the rumors about how much Twitter will be charging for users who are verified to stay that way – it will be $8 a month.

Sources familiar with the company’s internal discussions initially pointed to a rate of $20 a month for subscribing to Twitter Blue – the firm’s premium subscription package. This subscription would be mandatory to keep the blue check marks that indicate that a user’s identity has been verified.

The cost of the service before Musk’s arrival was $4.99, meaning that the buoyant new owner of the social media platform is raising $3 to the price of the service. However, Musk highlighted some new features that will now be incorporated into the subscription package.

“Power to the people”, Musk tweeted yesterday to announce the definitive pricing of Twitter Blue. The founder of Tesla (TSLA) further commented that the price will be adjusted depending on the user’s country of residence based on “purchasing power parity”.

What are Some of the Benefits of the New Twitter Blue?

Some of the benefits of being a Twitter Blue subscriber will now include being prioritized in replies, mentions, and searches, the ability to post long videos and audio on the micro-blogging app, and fewer adverts.

Moreover, Musk said that Twitter Blue users may enjoy access to paywalled articles from publishers who are willing to partner with the social media platform to make this content available to a wider audience.

“This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators”, Musk further stated, hinting at plans that may involve some sort of compensation scheme for influencers.

According to previous reports, Twitter’s engineers who are working on making these features available for Twitter Blue users must make all the required updates before next Sunday or otherwise they may be let go.

This has been the first official change made by Musk to Twitter’s business model and may be a sign of what’s coming as the founder of SpaceX believes that the bulk of the platform’s revenues should come from subscription fees, not ads.

Even though Musk did not immediately address this matter, previous reports stated that users that are currently verified will be given 90 days to subscribe to Twitter Blue, otherwise their blue badge will be removed if they fail to comply once that period ends.

Musk could be in a rush to boost Twitter’s revenues and profitability as the billionaire took a huge loan to finance the acquisition of the social media company that will add a financial burden for the business.

What Could Come Next for Twitter Under Musk’s Leadership?

Other rumors that have not yet been materialized into action include the possibility of Musk laying off a significant number of workers to reduce the firm’s personnel expenditures. By the end of last year, Twitter employed 7,500 full-time workers. According to sources familiar with the discussions, Musk could be aiming to cut that number in half in a relatively short period.

Another interesting possibility on the horizon for Twitter to generate more revenue involves partnering with Jack Dorsey’s decentralized social media initiative called Bluesky. This platform is powered by an Authenticated Transfer Protocol (ATP) that allows platforms to communicate between them and be powered by a federated network of independent servers.

Even though Bluesky may be a direct competitor of Twitter, the AT Protocol will be accessible for other platforms to use as the goal of the initiative is to allow users to sign into all of their social media profiles with a single account.

By relying on independent servers, Twitter may save money on data storage and transfer. Currently, the platform relies on the services of Amazon’s AWS cloud infrastructure to function.