USA: Keeping your word, Elon Musk. Gone are the days of the traditional blue checkmark on Twitter. But many people have expressed displeasure over the action.
One of them is Chris Messina, who created hashtags as they are used today. Messina, one of Twitter's original users, has stopped using it as a result of Musk's choice. See what influenced her to make this choice.
Musk pledged to get rid of legacy blue ticks as one of his first Twitter acquisition commitments. Twitter's CEO labeled him "corrupt". Earlier, only notable personalities and celebrities were given the Blue Tick.
This is currently a paid feature. According to Musk's detractors, removing the traditional blue check would lead to an increase in impersonation and misinformation on Twitter.
Messina was one of those who were unwilling to pay for the Blue Tick. As a result he lost the checkmark. However, he didn't quit Twitter because of missing the checkmark.
My decision is not based on badges; Rather, it is based on the circumstances leading up to the badge and how it was handled, he said.
Messina has a very long Twitter history. On Twitter, he proposed using hashtags to group messages, trends, and events. A tweet was used to suggest it in 2007.
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What are your thoughts on using # (pound) for groups? As in [msg] from #barcamp?" he asked on Twitter. The phenomenon of the hashtag as we know it today was born from that tweet.
The use of hashtags has greatly simplified internet searches. Nowadays hashtags are used on almost all popular websites. Technology evangelist Messina decided against patenting his creation.
I was never interested in using hashtags to make money (directly). He said in 2013 that since they were created on the Internet, no one should own them.
Not many people were enthusiastic when he first proposed the idea of using hashtags to streamline Twitter usage. Messina pitched his idea to Biz Stone, one of the co-founders of Twitter. Too bland, according to Stone.
But he kept spreading the word on Twitter and it eventually caught on. Trending hashtags now have their own section on Twitter.
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Messina thinks Twitter and Musk could have handled the legacy Blue Tick business more effectively than it currently does. He said that whatever Twitter was before, it deserved more respect and honor than it has received in the past six months.
His Twitter profile is currently in private mode. His profile picture is a tweet by Musk criticizing the hashtag.