Twitter Blue for Business launches with new square profile pictures for main company pages

Twitter officially launched a new version of the Twitter Blue subscription service specifically designed for businesses and brands on the platforms. The social media company also rolled out a new square profile picture that appears to be related to the new Twitter Blue option.

A blog post announcing Twitter Blue for Business explains subscribing to the service will allow companies to link “any number” of pages that belong to employees or affiliate accounts. Affiliated pages will display a small badge — next to the verified checkmark — that shows the profile picture of the company’s main account.

Photo from Twitter

It appears that employees do not have to pay for Twitter Blue if their company chooses to link their account as an affiliate page. “Each affiliate will be verified and officially linked to their parent handle based on a list provided by the parent business,” the announcement post reads.

The blog post did not provide other pertinent details, though, such as how much Twitter Blue for Business will cost. But Twitter said the service is initially launching for “a select group of businesses” with a plan to make it more widely available next year.

Twitter’s director of product management, Esther Crawford, said small businesses would be able to use Twitter Blue for Business. “Our goal is to make it accessible to businesses of all sizes — in time it’ll become a self-serve system,” Crawford wrote.

It remains to be seen if there will be distinctions in the pricing and features offered to different sizes of companies looking to use Twitter Blue for Business.

Twitter also rolled out square profile pictures for brands and companies on the platform, as first spotted by The Verge, following the launch of Twitter Blue for Business. The same report noted that the square profile picture appears to be implemented on accounts that have the gold checkmark, the new distinct verified symbol for business profiles.

The company first released the gold verified checkmark along with the return of the basic Twitter Blue last week. The subscription service intended for individual users is currently priced at $8 and $11 on iOS. Twitter also confirmed last week that it would be rolling out a gray checkmark to verify the accounts of government officials and offices.

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash