X, previously generally known as Twitter, has gone via a variety of adjustments since its possession modified arms in November 2022. Some of the notable ones is its paid tier, which has seen identify and design adjustments and lots of (many) additions to its record of options.
A lot has occurred with this paid tier generally known as X Premium (RIP Twitter Blue) that it may be overwhelming for customers contemplating it to undergo and perceive if it’s proper for them.
To assist ease a few of this confusion, I paid for X Premium and tracked the efficiency of my content material over 90 days. My purpose was to evaluate the paid tier’s worth and whether or not it is best to take the $8 (or $16) leap. On this article, I try and do exactly that and enable you to make the best resolution in your model.
What’s X Premium?
X Premium is a premium, opt-in, paid subscription service designed to boost consumer expertise on the platform. It affords further options to enhance engagement and personalization, with three tiers:
- Fundamental: This tier prices $3 a month or $32 a yr, giving customers entry to restricted options.
- Premium: This was the primary tier made out there, and it prices $8 or $84 a yr. It has all of the options that one would possibly think about helpful. It’s additionally the tier I went with as a result of it was the one one out there on the time.
- Premium+: This tier prices $16 a month or $168 a yr and affords just a few further options not included within the Premium tier.
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Some key options of X Premium embody the flexibility to edit your posts and add longer posts and movies, in addition to a Blue checkmark and textual content formatting, amongst many others. We’ll dive into them in a minute – however first, how do you join?
The right way to get X Premium
When you’re simply right here to know how one can get X Premium for your self, it’s fairly easy:
- Navigate to the X web site or open the X app in your cellphone.
- Search for the ‘X Premium’ or ‘Subscription’ possibility in your account settings or profile menu.
- Choose from the three out there tiers – Fundamental, Premium, or Premium+ – primarily based on the options you want and your price range.
- Familiarize your self with every tier’s options to make sure they align along with your necessities.
The utmost out there options as proven below the Premium+ tier
- Observe the prompts to pay and full the subscription course of.
- As soon as subscribed, you’ll obtain a affirmation, and the X Premium options will turn out to be out there.
Exploring the core options of X Premium
X Premium customers on any tier above Fundamental get entry to a laundry record of options – nonetheless, it’s a reasonably lengthy record.
So, I picked out essentially the most related options for you as a creator or small enterprise proprietor and what you could know, together with the advantages, downsides, and why it is likely to be well worth the price ticket.
| Function | What it’s | Advantages | Downsides | Definitely worth the Value Tag? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edit Put up | Permits enhancing tweets post-publishing inside an hour | Appropriate errors, replace data, improve readability | Restricted to at least one hour, restrictions on edit depend | No – it was usually too buggy to get a lot use out of. I’m additionally not used to enhancing my posts, so I didn’t hassle with it more often than not. |
| Longer Posts | Expands character restrict as much as 25,000 | Delve deeper into subjects, extra complete content material | Longer format might deter some readers | Positively – this was one function that I used rather a lot and would miss if I didn’t have X Premium anymore. |
| Prioritized Rankings in Replies | Boosts visibility of consumer interactions | Will increase engagement and attain | Effectiveness varies with viewers exercise | No – this isn’t a precedence for most individuals and in case you’re attempting to get visibility, it might be higher to message the creator or quote the tweet. |
| Bookmark Folders and Customized App Icons | Organizes content material and personalizes app icons | Helps in analysis and content material curation; personalizes expertise | Extra about group and aesthetics | Perhaps – in case you like organized content material, this is likely to be well worth the price ticket. It additionally makes a fantastic swipe file as a result of you possibly can type your content material higher. |
| Blue Checkmark (Premium and Premium+ tiers) | Verification image for profiles | Gives credibility and recognition | Verification course of and eligibility standards could also be boundaries | Positively not – most individuals cover their checkmarks since that possibility was provided. |
| Income Sharing and Creator Subscriptions (Premium and Premium+ tiers) | Monetization choices | New income streams, financially viable platform | Depends upon viewers dimension and engagement ranges | Perhaps – when you’ve got a bigger viewers, this might make the worth tag price it. Or perhaps not, with experiences of even bigger creators not receiving as a lot income as when this system first launched. |
| Advert Discount (Premium and Premium+ tiers) | Reduces advert presence on the platform | Cleaner shopping expertise, much less distraction | Does not eradicate adverts completely | Not fairly – I agree that I see much less adverts, nevertheless it’s nonetheless too frequent for my choice |
| Longer Video Uploads | Extends video add limits | Permits importing longer movies | Restricted to particular platforms and gadgets | Perhaps – in case you largely add video content material, this can be a nice choice to have. |
My private expertise with X Premium
My first notice on switching to the X Premium consumer expertise was: “I’ve no clue what to do now.” I used to be aware of some the reason why most individuals weren’t enormous followers of subscribing to a social media platform. However I hadn’t seen a lot about the advantages of subscribing (aside from income sharing) and why somebody would possibly need to take the leap.
So, I requested my viewers what they’d need to find out about utilizing it and received some useful questions.
Simply subscribed to Twitter? X? Blue and I’ll be documenting whether or not it’s price it over the subsequent few months
What would you prefer to know/ought to keep watch over 🤔👇🏾
— tamilore (@tamioladipo) August 11, 2023
A few individuals requested me to examine in on how the attain of my content material would change or enhance over the 90 days.
Attain. I might prefer to know if it helps with giving your content material extra attain, and if there’s anything right here that advantages creators asides the pay
— Gigii 🌶️ (@gigiipepperr) August 11, 2023
Attain as properly 🙂
— Scotty | The “Ugly Emails” Man (@el_ghostmailer) August 11, 2023
I additionally received a request to examine in on how long-form posts carry out. These questions knowledgeable a variety of how I approached my content material whereas doing this experiment.
Now, I’ve at all times been a textual content creator, so my posting type didn’t change – in actual fact, I posted lower than within the prior three-month interval, with my frequency happening from 164 posts in 90 days to 94. Nonetheless, that made the outcomes extra spectacular – take a look at the evaluation.
How my content material carried out earlier than and after X Premium
X’s analytics depart a lot to be desired, so I’ve added information from my Buffer analytics. There is likely to be inconsistencies between the 2 datasets, so bear with me.
With out additional ado, right here’s how my content material carried out over two completely different 90-day intervals.
Earlier than X Premium
Earlier than X Premium, my exercise was a lot larger. I shared 164 tweets and, in keeping with Buffer, received:
- 198,873 impressions
- 1,938 likes
- 260 replies
- 313 retweets
- 2,080 clicks
- 391 new followers
Then, in keeping with Twitter, for a similar 90-day-period I received roughly:
- 253,200 impressions
- 4.5 % engagement price
- 2,300 likes
- 492 replies
- 335 retweets (with out feedback, aka quotes)
- 2,800 hyperlink clicks
Every tweet, on common, gained 1,213 impressions and 48 engagements.
I may draw a direct line from the elevated efficiency of this era to 2 issues. One is a useful resource I shared that received me extra engagement than regular, and two is a sequence of stories updates I used to share however have since paused.
These two content material codecs skewed my outcomes larger than regular over this 90-day interval.
After X Premium
After X Premium, although my tweet depend decreased to 94, the engagement high quality remained excessive, with a 3.6 % engagement price.
To dig in additional, in keeping with Buffer, I acquired 287 replies, 326 retweets, and 556 hyperlink clicks.
- 186,630 impressions
- 1,661 likes
- 219 replies
- 273 retweets
- 32 clicks
- 242 new followers
Then, from my Twitter analytics, I can see that I acquired roughly:
- 243,200 impressions
- 3.6 % engagement price
- 2,100 likes
- 287 replies
- 326 retweets (with out feedback, aka quotes)
- 556 hyperlink clicks
What do these numbers imply?
This comparability reveals that although my general exercise decreased post-subscription, the engagement high quality of my content material was maintained.
In accordance with Twitter, the common day by day impressions solely dropped to round 2,700 from 2,800.
Since I used to be publishing much less, subscribing to X Premium seems to have enhanced the attain of every publish, contributing to extra impactful outcomes general.
So when you ought to take all these stats with a grain of salt, seeing as there have been challenges with X’s analytics and such large variations between each platforms I used to trace them, they’re useful to get an concept of the efficiency of my content material.
Is X Premium best for you?
Brief reply: in all probability sure.
X Premium instantly looks like a fantastic match for anybody trying to develop an engaged viewers, particularly in case your content material is primarily text-driven.
Options like enhancing and the flexibility to make longer kind content material are invaluable for sustaining high quality and depth in content material. A few of my best-performing posts have been longer, and so they did fairly properly.
It’s additionally nice for partaking along with your neighborhood since you get enhanced visibility via prioritized rankings in replies, which is essential for viewers progress.
Nonetheless, the subscription has its limitations. The affect of options like income sharing and creator subscriptions’ is felt extra by these with an already established follower base – that are a number of the predominant attracts of the paid tier. The monetization advantages won’t be instantly tangible in case you’re newer or have a small viewers like me.
I nonetheless suppose X Premium could be highly effective if you wish to refine your content material high quality and engagement methods, particularly in case you already possess a considerable following.
Finally, for smaller accounts or these simply beginning, it is best to weigh the incremental advantages of engagement and attain and small upgrades in opposition to your funds earlier than investing in X Premium.
Will you be subscribing to X Premium? Are you at present subscribed? We would like to know your expertise within the feedback – or you may be part of the Buffer neighborhood in Discord and share there.
