Self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur and angel investor”, Jason Calacanis, is running a poll on Twitter.
The question: “How much would you pay to be verified & get a blue check mark on Twitter?” Possible choices: “$5 a month”, “$10 a month”, “$15 a month”, “Wouldn’t pay”.
As I write these words, the poll has already generated 1 929 195 votes and has five more days to run.
How much would you pay to be verified & get a blue check mark on Twitter?
— jason@calacanis.com (@Jason) October 31, 2022
Unsurprisingly, the majority of the respondents thus far (81%) say they will not pay.
What is interesting is the number of people who say they would pay.
Thus far, 10.4% say they would pay $5, 2.4% say they would pay $10, and 5.4% say they would pay $15.
In other words, 18.3% of 1 929 195 would pay at least $5 per month to get a verified Twitter account. That’s 353 042 people thus far willing to pay $5 per month, which is $1 765 213 per month or $21 million per year.
Twitter has 206 million daily users. Assuming 10% of those agree to $5 per month, that’s $100 million US per month or $1.2 billion per year.
Elon Musk is not stupid.