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Twitter news & updates: December 2022 [Running List]

Loves to write, loves to research, and loves the performance of all things social & blog strategy.

There’s a lot happening at Twitter HQ. As a creator, it can be hard to keep track.

We decided to create a running log of the key news, trends, and behind-the-scenes ongoings from the watchdogs of Twitter. This is our December 2022 Twitter log.


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Twitter Updates: December 13, 2022

  • A sigh of relief heard from Twitter as Apple and Amazon resume advertising on the platform – A new report from Media Radar declared how Apple spends the greatest amount of its ad spending on Twitter, and Apple chose to stop ads from being played across Meta’s leading apps of Facebook and Instagram.
  • Musk seems to have dropped his feud with Tim Cook over App Store rules, maybe its because Apple is back to advertising for now.
  • Twitter Moments are gone. Below is what they looked like if you’re unfamiliar. Moments was a highlight reel of the top stories each day curated by Twitter’s news team. But while the initial response to the option showed some promise, Moments usage, and interest, has steadily declined over time. Twitter claimed its shifting its focus as the reason to close down the feature.
  • Twitter is allegedly relaunching the verification plan this upcoming Monday (December 19th) with a catch for IOS users. If you’re an apple person *raises hand* you’ll be forced to pay $11 instead of $8. Why’s that? It’s the apple tax from the app store.
    •  Twitter’s also developing variable color shades for its new, alternative color verification badges, in order to assist color-blind users:
  • Secret shadowbanning is over, at least within Twitter. In Elon’s words: Twitter is “working on a software update that will show your true account status, so you know clearly if you’ve been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal.” It’s interesting that this news comes in the same week that Instagram decides to do the same thing. More transparency all around definitely can’t hurt!
  • Twitter is still hurting financially, though. Its US ad revenue was reportedly 80% below expectations during the first week of the World Cup.

Twitter Updates: December 5, 2022

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Advertiser incentives get a boost

Twitter, amid all of its chaos, is in the giving holiday spirit. 

The platform is offering advertisers what execs described as uncommonly generous deals in an apparent effort to boost advertising spend before EOY. But, many major advertisers, including Jeep, Mars, Kellogg, and Verizon, have stopped running ads on the platform entirely.

Globally, Twitter is offering a “value add” to advertisers that reach a certain incremental spend limit. In other words, Twitter will offer additional impressions on behalf of the advertiser, depending on how much they spend. In some cases, Twitter is offering to match advertising spend on the platform.

  • Within the US, if an advertiser spends $200,000, they’ll get a 25% value add.
  • If they spend $350,000, they’ll receive a 50% value add.
  • If they spend $500,000, they’ll get a 100% value add, capped at $1 million per advertiser.

The Apple War

Elon Musk joined the long-simmering war against Apple this week. Alleged that Apple threatened to boot Twitter from its App Store and called out Apple for censorship and its notorious App Store fees. 

Apple takes a 30% cut from every purchase of and within big companies’ apps on its devices—which could include the $8 monthly fee that Musk plans to charge for verification on Twitter. Maybe he has a point on his grievances.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Fortnite developer Epic Games, has gone to the mattresses over the fees: His company sued Apple over the 30% cut in 2020, pretty much lost, and appeared in court this month to appeal the verdict.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said last month that Apple is “choking competition” after Spotify’s audiobooks app was rejected from the App Store three times for allegedly not following App Store rules.

I’m sure Sweeney and Ek are overjoyed to welcome Musk to the family. As the storm rages, Apple CEO Tim Cook has stayed silent, refusing to take Musk’s bait.

Twitter Verification updates

The newly stated Twitter verification revamp plan might do some good. With impersonations leading to stock price dips, corporate apologies, and misreporting, the blue checkmark has caused some significant issues for Twitter.

So Elon and Co. took it back in order to revise and re-shape the program in a more brand-safe, user-friendly way. Corporate and gov’t accounts will receive a grey check mark, companies a gold check, and blue for individuals (celebrity or not). App researcher Alessandro Paluzzi posted examples of how these new ticks might look in the app.

It’s a sensible move, which will avoid similar incidents like this tweet from an $8 verified account, which tanked Eli Lilly’s stock price.

Eli Lilly tweet

What’s more? We’ve started to see, along with others, our engagement drop after getting the blue checkmark, which is ironic since paying for the verification is supposed to give you a boost in the algorithm…