Matt Collingwood

Managing director, VIQU

“Here at VIQU, we’ve used Twitter since the day we launched. We’ve always liked that it is a free platform that we can use to connect with certain communities. However, it feels like [owner] Elon Musk is making changes more often than I change my underpants. This latest move is unnerving. If Musk keeps making changes, and goes down the route of requiring payment from all accounts (which is how it’s looking!), we will be forced to delete our account. It’s a huge shame for SMEs with limited budgets, like VIQU, who have benefitted from exposure from Twitter, but we certainly won’t be dictated to by Musk’s daily bullish antics.”

Kate Shoesmith

Deputy CEO, Recruitment & Employment Confederation

“At the REC, we have a presence on Twitter and we use it as a way to communicate with our stakeholders – especially journalists, thought leaders, politicians – but also REC members. Some REC members also have Twitter accounts but I’ve seen few have a blue tick, so my suspicion is it will be business as usual for many users, including recruiters and their candidate base. We’ll be watching the change with interest. It’ll be important to review any impact the change has on ‘spoof’ accounts, whether people change their interactions with Twitter users to prioritise engaging with blue tick verified accounts or not, and we will be tracking if the blue tick has any impact on our social reach.”

Sam Wason

Co-founder, Cathcart Technology

“It’s a cheap way for the ex-richest man in the world to look less foolish and make a tiny bit of dough from his idiotic investment. If it was widely adopted and accepted it would destroy the democratising ethos of Twitter, which is what made it a success in the first place. But it won’t be widely adopted. It’ll create a two-tier system that favours those who shout loudest. This might work for a while in terms of boosting traffic, but only because people are more likely to look at a burning building than at one that’s operating normally.”