In the era of Elon Musk's leadership at the helm of Twitter, a platform that once was, the pursuit of innovation through various subscription tiers remains unabated.

Musk, in one of his characteristic tweets, unveiled Twitter's transformation into X, accompanied by the revelation of two novel strata within the realm of X Premium (formerly known as Twitter Blue) subscriptions. In his succinct proclamation, he delineated their characteristics: one, a tier of economic allure, incorporating the full spectrum of features, yet refraining from the reduction of advertisements. The second tier, with a heftier price tag, presents an ad-free sanctuary. The monetary valuation of these tiers remains a mystery for now. It is worth noting that X Premium's present cost stands at $8 per lunar cycle.

Two new tiers of X Premium subscriptions launching soon.

One is lower cost with all features, but no reduction in ads, and the other is more expensive, but has no ads.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2023

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that X was testing three membership tiers: Basic, Standard, and Plus. In such case, the Basic plan would display the full quantity of advertising, Standard would decrease them by half, and Plus would completely remove them. (At the moment, X Premium offers "half ads.")

For non-X Premium members who wish to tweet or retweet material on the site, X is also piloting a $1 annual membership plan. The change is presently being tested in New Zealand and the Philippines with the aim of reducing bot activity (the theory being that only legitimate individuals own credit cards, allegedly).

Since Musk's takeover, X has struggled to make money. As reported by Bloomberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino claims that the platform is profitable after deducting its debt payments, and that although spending has decreased, 90% of its advertisers have returned.

Image by Getty / Futurism