X, previously generally known as Twitter, has gone by a whole lot of modifications since its possession modified arms in November 2022. One of the crucial notable ones is its paid tier, which has seen title and design modifications and plenty of (many) additions to its listing 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 you need to take the $8 (or $16) leap. On this article, I try to do exactly that and allow you to make the precise determination on 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 presents further options to enhance engagement and personalization, with three tiers:
- Primary: This tier prices $3 a month or $32 a 12 months, giving customers entry to restricted options.
- Premium: This was the primary tier made accessible, and it prices $8 or $84 a 12 months. It has all of the options that one would possibly take into account helpful. It’s additionally the tier I went with as a result of it was the one one accessible on the time.
- Premium+: This tier prices $16 a month or $168 a 12 months and presents just a few further options not included within the Premium tier.
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Some key options of X Premium embody the power 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 enroll?
Methods to get X Premium
For those who’re simply right here to know the best way to get X Premium for your self, it’s fairly easy:
- Navigate to the X web site or open the X app in your telephone.
- Search for the ‘X Premium’ or ‘Subscription’ possibility in your account settings or profile menu.
- Choose from the three accessible tiers – Primary, Premium, or Premium+ – based mostly on the options you want and your funds.
- Familiarize your self with every tier’s options to make sure they align along with your necessities.
The utmost accessible options as proven below the Premium+ tier
- Comply with 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 change into accessible.
Exploring the core options of X Premium
X Premium customers on any tier above Primary get entry to a laundry listing of options – nevertheless, it’s a reasonably lengthy listing.
So, I picked out probably the most related options for you as a creator or small enterprise proprietor and what it is advisable to know, together with the advantages, downsides, and why it is perhaps well worth the price ticket.
| Function | What it’s | Advantages | Downsides | Definitely worth the Worth Tag? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edit Publish | Permits enhancing tweets post-publishing inside an hour | Right errors, replace information, improve readability | Restricted to 1 hour, restrictions on edit depend | No – it was typically too buggy to get a lot use out of. I’m additionally not used to enhancing my posts, so I didn’t trouble 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 could deter some readers | Undoubtedly – this was one characteristic 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 for those who’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 – for those who like organized content material, this is perhaps well worth the price ticket. It additionally makes an awesome swipe file as a result of you possibly can kind your content material higher. |
| Blue Checkmark (Premium and Premium+ tiers) | Verification image for profiles | Presents credibility and recognition | Verification course of and eligibility standards could also be obstacles | Undoubtedly not – most individuals cover their checkmarks since that possibility was supplied. |
| Income Sharing and Creator Subscriptions (Premium and Premium+ tiers) | Monetization choices | New income streams, financially viable platform | Is dependent upon viewers measurement and engagement ranges | Perhaps – when you’ve got a bigger viewers, this might make the worth tag value it. Or possibly 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 looking expertise, much less distraction | Would not get rid of advertisements fully | Not fairly – I agree that I see much less advertisements, however it’s nonetheless too frequent for my desire |
| Longer Video Uploads | Extends video add limits | Permits importing longer movies | Restricted to particular platforms and gadgets | Perhaps – for those who largely add video content material, it is a nice choice to have. |
My private expertise with X Premium
My first observe on switching to the X Premium consumer expertise was: “I’ve no clue what to do now.” I used to be accustomed to some the reason why most individuals weren’t big followers of subscribing to a social media platform. However I hadn’t seen a lot about the advantages of subscribing (apart from income sharing) and why somebody would possibly need to take the leap.
So, I requested my viewers what they’d need to learn about utilizing it and acquired some useful questions.
Simply subscribed to Twitter? X? Blue and I’ll be documenting whether or not it’s value it over the following few months
What would you prefer to know/ought to control 🤔👇🏾
— tamilore (@tamioladipo) August 11, 2023
A few individuals requested me to verify in on how the attain of my content material would change or enhance over the 90 days.
Attain. I would prefer to know if it helps with giving your content material extra attain, and if there’s the rest right here that advantages creators asides the pay
— Gigii 🌶️ (@gigiipepperr) August 11, 2023
Attain as nicely 🙂
— Scotty | The “Ugly Emails” Man (@el_ghostmailer) August 11, 2023
I additionally acquired a request to verify in on how long-form posts carry out. These questions knowledgeable a whole lot 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 model didn’t change – actually, I posted lower than within the prior three-month interval, with my frequency taking place from 164 posts in 90 days to 94. Nonetheless, that made the outcomes extra spectacular – try 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 perhaps inconsistencies between the 2 datasets, so bear with me.
With out additional ado, right here’s how my content material carried out over two totally different 90-day durations.
Earlier than X Premium
Earlier than X Premium, my exercise was a lot greater. I shared 164 tweets and, in keeping with Buffer, acquired:
- 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 acquired roughly:
- 253,200 impressions
- 4.5 % engagement fee
- 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 can even draw a direct line from the elevated efficiency of this era to 2 issues. One is a useful resource I shared that acquired me extra engagement than regular, and two is a collection of stories updates I used to share however have since paused.
These two content material codecs skewed my outcomes greater than regular over this 90-day interval.
After X Premium
After X Premium, despite the fact that my tweet depend lowered to 94, the engagement high quality remained excessive, with a 3.6 % engagement fee.
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 fee
- 2,100 likes
- 287 replies
- 326 retweets (with out feedback, aka quotes)
- 556 hyperlink clicks
What do these numbers imply?
This comparability reveals that despite the fact that my general exercise decreased post-subscription, the engagement high quality of my content material was maintained.
In line with Twitter, the common every 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?
Quick reply: most likely sure.
X Premium instantly looks like an awesome match for anybody trying to develop an engaged viewers, particularly in case your content material is primarily text-driven.
Options like enhancing and the power 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 nicely.
It’s additionally nice for partaking along with your neighborhood since you get enhanced visibility by prioritized rankings in replies, which is essential for viewers progress.
Nevertheless, 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 few of the essential attracts of the paid tier. The monetization advantages may not be instantly tangible for those who’re newer or have a small viewers like me.
I nonetheless suppose X Premium might be highly effective if you wish to refine your content material high quality and engagement methods, particularly for those who already possess a considerable following.
In the end, for smaller accounts or these simply beginning, you need to weigh the incremental advantages of engagement and attain and small upgrades towards 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 would be a part of the Buffer neighborhood in Discord and share there.
